Oxford in the autumn
Not having blogged for a couple of days, I should really write about the leaked evaluation of Sure Start, and how it proves nothing, but Dan’s done that comprehensively. (And while you’re there, you might want to ask just why his alter-ego is Don Paskini…)
Or maybe I should write about the splash on today’s Daily Mail frontpage, “Labour’s tax on the family“, based (surprise surprise) on another report from the marriage-fetishists of Civitas. (Is it me, or do they publish the same report two or three times a year?)
But I’m not going to, because today was the first proper day of autumn, the first day I was glad of my season-bridging fleece. Stepping out onto the street, there was a snap in the air, that little shock that chills the end of your nose and makes you march smartly to the bus stop. I love slipping out onto the fourth floor balcony above Cornmarket Street and enjoying a private view of Oxford’s skyline that no tourists ever see - looking towards the Radcliffe Camera in the twilight, with the dome illuminated in last rays of amber light and the flags on top of the colleges strained at their poles. Autumn is when I first fell in love with Oxford, and every autumn I’m reminded of it.
And seven years after it became home, I still love it here. Last night, at a friend’s 28th birthday dinner, there was a young woman who’s been here two-and-a-half months after finishing university in Liverpool, and hates it. And I suppose I understand why: it’s not really the place to be if you life is about bars and clubs, and of course, a place is nothing without the right people. But, having said that, I doubt many people are lucky enough to have a journey to work quite like mine, passing a historic village, the track where Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile, a monastery and probably seven or eight listed buildings in twenty minutes, to work in a small city with a thriving local politics and activist community, great arts scene and a real mix of people jostling together in a city centre built before the advent of poured concrete.
I do miss Oxford. Haringey has its beautiful buildings, and there’s a certain beauty to sunset over east London from my seventh storey office window, the low evening sun raking the redbrick terraces beautifully, but Oxford, even if its surrounding landscape is a bit dull, is beautiful as few other cities are.
Whether I love Oxford in the Autumn really depends on what kind of Autumn we get…
But when I arrived here in October 1992, I didn’t much like the aesthetics of the city at all, and it was only in the early Spring light, around February, that I noticed just how striking some of the buildings could be and began to enjoy them.
The longer I live here (and I’m just starting my ninth year here), the more I like the buildings, and not just the well-known ones, either.
Just to be grumpy for a moment:
A city centre built before the advent of poured concrete
But developed after!
Oxford … is beautiful as few other cities are
See above - esp Cornmarket.
BUT
I agree - Oxford is, on the whole, an amazing place to live, though I’m sure more double decker buses would help more people appreciate just how beautiful the colleges and top halves of the buildings on, say, the High Street, are.
Or maybe I should write about the splash on today’s Daily Mail frontpage, “Labour’s tax on the family“, based (surprise surprise) on another report from the marriage-fetishists of Civitas.
I’m just impressed that they’ve managed to make a headline longer than four words.
Speaking of headlines, today’s News of the World headline is unimprovable for a tabloid newspaper: “Cocaine Kate’s 3 in bed Lesbian Orgies”. Hits all the tabloid buttons, really.
Hi there, I’ve placed you and Jo on my blogroll. I hope that’s Ok. Any problems, and I’ll remove it for you.
Royston
“Hits all the tabloid buttons, really.”
Only some of them.
Imagine if the same headline continued “… with Asylum Seekers Threatens House Prices” (although perhaps that’s to migrate from the concerns of the NotW to those of the Mail and the Express.
Yes, I freely admit that would hit more buttons. As you say, house prices is a bit Daily Mail, NotW is sex, drugs, and celebrities, and your proposed headline is a bit long (although replacing ‘asylum-seekers’ with ‘foreigners’ might make this possible)
I’ve just got back from my first ever visit to Oxford, and I thought it was gorgeous. I’m loving all the little patisseries you don’t get in North Yorkshire, and the indie clothing shops, though I might be a little biased seeing as Oxford now means getting to see Matt!