Network Course in Oxford

Sunday 6 - Tuesday 8 February 2000. Myself and Network Manager, Jayne are in Oxford for a two-day course on the new network system going into Myerscough College.

As the course is Monday - Tuesday, we have to drive down on Sunday afternoon and find the B&B then go into Oxford to find something to eat.

I always like a wander round a town or city at night, as floodlit buildings or even just lit shop windows create a totally different view than you would get in the daytime. This is Christ Church College.

Oxford has the oldest university in the English-speaking world. It came into being in the late 1100s though its relationship with the non-academic inhabitants was far from easy at first. In the background, turned blue by the approaching dusk is the Radcliffe Camera (built 1737-1748). It is not a camera, not even a camera obscura but a library. "Camera" in Latin means a room.

There's some little devils knocking about in Oxford after nightfall!

I found a Green Man carved on a bit of panelling. Looking not a little alarming himself, he was carved on the door underneath the squatting devil or imp pictured above.

Facing the Radcliffe library was this college building with a touch of the moorish above the wrought iron gates. The street lights threw shadows of the wrought ironwork onto the pillars within the gatehouse.

One of the most famous libraries in the world is Oxford's Bodleian Library. We passed under the archway and into it's courtyard. It is named after Sir Thomas Bodley who donated funds to develop a library dating from the 14th century.

It is the second largest UK library after the British Library and contains over 13 million books and documents. This is not the place to say "I can't remember the name or the author but the cover is red..."

I have a feeling that above the shop was a cafe or restaurant where we ate on at least one of the nights. Also note the row of parked bicycles. Oxford is full of them, either because students love to race around silently, startling each other and Oxford's inhabitants, or simply because the cost of parking in Oxford is so expensive that you may as well allow your car to be towed away and buy another, this being almost as "cheap"...

We found Oxford's Bridge of Sighs. Not quite so romantic, nor quite so well lit as its Venetian equivalent.

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