Weekend in Oxford

Having found St Margarets Church just up the road from the pub (This seems to happen even in more built up areas!) we duly took ourselves there at 10.30 on Sunday morning. In all these different churches we visit on our travels we never know what sort of service to expect or size of congregation we shall find. Geoff was delighted to find that this one was very high church with lots of incense. There was a big choir of at least 30 ..all ages... and a congregation of 50 or so. It was a lovely service with a woman priest who was a small gentle looking lady who smiled a lot as did several of her acolytes. Unfortunately we were not able to stay for the coffee to which we were invited as we were expecting the imminent arrival of Rosi & John Lillis and thought they would need directions to Petroc.
They found us however with not too much difficulty and we all enjoyed an excellent lunch in the Anchor pub just opposite bridge 240. Another recommendation to all. It had obviously been more of a working men's pub but was now more of a gastro pub. It was a little more expensive than our usual Sunday lunch pub grub but the food was excellent.

Emma was due to arrive later in the afternoon with some discs to try and recover my computer and her arrival did not go so smoothly. This could have been a combination of Geoff's directions and the fact that she did not have a map in the car!! The result was that she became lost and by the time she found us after several phone calls, having been all round the ring road and through most of the centre on Oxford as far as we could gather, she was in a very frazzled state!!

We decided the best course of action was for me to return to Leamington with Emma and try and sort the computer out with a faster connection to the internet if necessary. In the event the call to the technical centre was unsuccessful and I have arranged to have it picked up in Currys store on Tuesday and they say it will take 7-10 days, although they seem confident it is repairable. Luckily Emma had arrived with a spare laptop from Giles for me to borrow so I shall not be completely without.

I am sitting writing this at 6am at Emmas and the plan is to catch a train back to Oxford early this morning so that we can continue southwards down to Abingdon.

I had a good look last night at the prices of various train journeys as this new, supposedly easier, pricing structure has just started. Whilst it would seem that if booked very well in advance I might still find a reasonably priced ticked from Cornwall to London, for a return for Emma to go to London from Leamington Spa the cheapest ticket was now £26. Previously she had been able to purchase a walk on fare for some trains at £15. I fear my sceptical suspicions about hidden price rises in this big change of structure will prove to be only too true.