Dreaming of Freedom » Pubs

A weekend in Oxford

Suzi — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 18:00:08 +0000

We spent the weekend in the Other University town! After work on Friday Tim and I drove our hire van packed with bikes, laptops and several different types of shoes southwards. We arrived at Culham at the end of the day – just in time for a guided tour of the fusion research center. Then headed to Jon’s place for a bye bye summer BBQ in the garden and a tour of his house. As it was Friday we also found time to walk down to the river and grab a quick drink at a pub overlooking the silent black water and almost silent house boats working their way through the lock.

Saturday dawned bright and rainless and we cycled the few miles into Oxford to join the tourists. Oxford is choc full of museums and sadly I just didn’t have enough time to visit all of them. I spent a very pleasant day in the Ashmolean Museum and got to enjoy two of their free tours. You can go on a general tour of the museum at 11am and then a more in-depth look at one or two pieces at 2.15pm. They have an excellent dining room on the top floor of the museum where I stopped for a cup of tea. You don’t get much of a view but you do get a breath of fresh air! In between tours I popped into the Pitt Rivers museum to see the oddest collection of curiosities – from model houses to animal skeletons and gruesome shrunken heads.

Tim, Jon and I then wandered the streets of Oxford taking in the colleges, the Bodleian Library and the Radcliffe Camera, the Sheldonian Theatre, the rose garden outside the Botanical Gardens and the two great rivers that flow into the city – Cherwell and Thames – complete of course with rowers.

After nipping home for a quick supper and a catch up on the footie results for the boys – we cycled back into Oxford and went to the Eagle and Child. Famous as the place where the Inklings met it was full of people but we managed to get a table and three pints – after all it was Saturday night!

Swamp Truck – Weird name – Awesome band

Suzi — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 10:57:34 +0000

Spent a very pleasant day eating cucumber sandwiches and supping tomato soup with K who was up in Cambridge for the day.
Met up with Nic in the evening and we ended up in the Portland Arms birthday celebrating with Andy from Swamp Truck and the rest of the band. Someone get these guys some gigs in Cambridge – I’ve been listening to them online and they are awesome. Nic introduced me to the music room at the Portland and we had ourselves a time listening to a couple of acoustic artists. The Portland has a full gig calendar which you should be sure to check out if you love the music.

Discovering John Clare at the Festival of Ideas 2010

Suzi — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 10:11:52 +0000

The Festival of Ideas started on Wednesday and I started off well by going to a lecture on poetry that very evening. It’s always so much easier to understand a poem when someone else has done all the research for you. My favourite poem was Clock-O’-Clay by John Clare and I now have the music of ‘Here I lie, a clock-o’-clay/Waiting for the time o’ day’ floating around in my head. The poem has these lovely Northamptonshire dialect words like Clock-O’-Clay (ladybird) and peeps (the bell of a flower) and is on the surface a gentle poem with a beautiful music of it’s own but look a little deeper and you see the dangerous world of the ladybird which Clare makes us aware of with his use of eyes. The poem is full of references of hiding from sight while eyes are all around – the dew is like fishes eyes and fly buzzing around while harmless for us seems more dangerous for a little creature hidden in a flower bell. The first stanza really brings this home for us because it is full of the i /aɪ/ sound – lie, fly, lies, eyes. The other stanzas carry the sound through for us – surprise, sighs, night and sight. The poem uses echoes from The Tempest such as Ariel’s speech ‘Of his bones are coral made;/Those are pearls that were his eyes’ demonstrating Clare’s somewhat surprising education because Clare was the son of a farm labourer and he lived and worked in rural areas his whole life. His poems reflect his love of the countryside and laments for its loss. It is now accepted that he is one of the great c19th poets.

So heartened by the fantastic experience on Wednesday I returned yesterday for more poetry reading fun with Grahame, after Yuko and I had been to see the John Cage exhibition at Kettle’s Yard and eaten a hearty lunch of Dauphinoise at the Punter. Cage’s modern abstract art reflects his interest in chance and it was produced using chance-determined arrangements. The work is to be hung like a score and there will be three movements throught the course of the exhibtion so don’t be surprised if you go back and all the painting have been rearranged.

After the poetry Gahame and I walked back to meet Nicole in the Punter and ended up sitting at the wooden bar next to the sunflowers playing chess. In a truly egalitarian spirit we took it in turns to win.

A spot of afternoon archery

Suzi — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 22:38:02 +0000

It was warm today, so warm in fact that I wore short sleeves and thought about looking for the sun protection cream. I cycled to Churchill College Sports Grounds to meet up the University Bowmen and try a little archery. This week and next you can try shooting a bow for only £2 for three hours. It was surprisingly difficult at first as the bow seemed very heavy and complicated. I was imagining myself shooting with a small light wooden bow and a quiver of arrows while running through a forest making witty comments. Must lay off the Robin Hood for a bit. After a while I got use to the weight and managed to improve my technique and aim in just two hours – this was primarily due to the coach who was unfailing patient and helpful.
Cycling back was heavenly. The day was warm, babies were sleeping in prams, students were attempting to punt for the first time and the rowers were inducting hopefuls into the fold.
Later on after toad-in-the-hole, which was I admit mainly hole due to a lack of sausages, Tim and I cycled to the Emperor for a comedy night. We only made the second half but the comedian was good. The Emperor used to be The Globe and has just reopened – it’s now run by the people who run the Empress- or as we call it the Pig Pub due to it’s oinking inhabitance. The Emperor has all sorts of things going on including free comedy nights, live music, home cooked food, games, a jukebox and a round pool table.

Despite the rain

Suzi — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 14:11:21 +0000

The weather this week has been almost all rain and no sunshine but today it was bright and hot and perfect for cycling to the the antique shops on Gwydir Street. Next to them, also in Dales Brewery, is the Williams Art art gallery where the CAM artists exhibit. There was some interesting stuff in there including a great picture by John Lyon very reminiscence of early C20th art much like a Cézanne with bright colours a bit like L’Estaque and distorted perspective like a Picasso. In fact the subject of the painting looked much like a portrait of Cézanne with his full beard painting away.
It’s been a very pleasant week despite the rain. I even felt energised enough to go to yoga on Thursday. I have to say I really like the atmosphere in the classes and the teacher Arabella Wright and really should try to make it there every week.
Last night a group of us went to the Kingston Arms a very pleasant it was too. The hops hanging over the bar, the cookies in jars and the free internet access all contribute to a homely atmosphere.

A rainy end to September

Suzi — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 09:07:37 +0000

I have spent a very pleasant weekend passing the time in the various watering holes and cake shops of Cambridge. On Friday Claire, Thomas, John and I hot footed it to the Punter for one of their delectable £5 lunches. Saturday saw Debs, Fariha, Thomas and I in Patisserie Valerie and Sunday saw me there again this time with Yuko buying birthday cake. The writers group went well in the barn at The Punter. We watched the dripping rain outside and sang happy birthday to Nic after dissecting each others’ work and drinking cappuccinos.

Tea at the La Forêt Noire and a hard struggle up to the Bastille

Suzi — Sun, 09 May 2010 22:30:54 +0000

On Friday afternoon K and I went into town and had tea and Black Forest gateau at a lovely little cafe La Forêt Noire opposite the tourist information. (Beware of the music on their website). It was a cozy little place and the staff were very friendly.
Yesterday we walked up the hill to the Bastille. We were totally shamed by all the fit people running up and down the hill as we walked sweating up the beautifully wide paths. We treated ourselves to a drink at the Restaurant du Téléphérique and spent ages photographing the amazing view of Grenoble.
Today I caught the train back to Paris and then it was back to Cambridge. I got from Grenoble to Cambridge in 7 hours so I pretty pleased with myself and met up with Andy at the Fort St George for a catch up on what had been going on in Cambridge in my absence.

Places to eat and places to be

Suzi — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 23:03:24 +0000

It’s been a busy week. Wednesday saw me at the public lecture at the Institute of Astronomy. It was a fairly clear night so we got a chance to do some public observing. Both the large telescopes were trained on the moon and there was a much smaller one trained on Jupiter. We got to see the four of Jupiter’s moons. The lecture hall was packed with eager listeners and when we all splurged outside there were crowds of people queuing for telescopes and surrounding the big screens set up on the lawn.
Friday I ate lunch at the St John’s Chop House where at lunch time you can munch a tasty two courses for £11. In the evening I divided my time between The Punter, The Maypole, Andy, Eric, Nic and Steven. The Punter is a lovely pub with great decor and friendly staff. At lunch time you can get a meal there for £5 and it’s not bad at all. The Maypole is a favourite student hang out so don’t go there unless you love the student vibe. They also do great food so it’s worth a visit.

Busy with meetings and exploring the pubs of Cambridge

Suzi — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 06:40:27 +0000

After a long week at work it was a bit of a relief to have a quiet evening on Friday. Will and Ella came up on Saturday and I got to wander all round Cambridge with them. We popped into the Green Dragon for a summer drink and then walked along the river and round the center. Then on Sunday I cycled out to Impington to a book club meeting. We discussed Brave New World and finished off with tea and cake which was all very Sundayish.
Monday after playing tennis with Chris a fellow humanist I ended up with Gavin and Chris in the Maypole. I am wondering if everything in Cambridge always ends with a drink at the Maypole. On Tuesday it was off the the Free Press to meet the rest of the humanists after nipping to the Stop the War meeting.