Oxford for a stint

We have arrived in England for a unique house sit. We will be staying in a thatched roof house in the Oxford countryside. This will be a unique opportunity to enjoy the English countryside as a local with dogs to walk. We envision ourselves taking the dogs to the pub after tramping though sheep

We are back in civilization: Oxfordshire, England. (a shire is like a county). We are about 5 miles from oxford, city of 38 colleges. We are staying in a giant house made from about 3 thatched barns built in the 1700’s. Built without any metal joining. All mortise and tenon (look that up, if you don’t know the term, I can’t tell you everything). Most of the beams are visible and the half timber walls (look up half timber too). They were eventually joined into this house. It is 3 sided around a large english garden. It is very big and quiet: we can’t yell to each other from different rooms like we could at our house, and it takes 3 completely different routers to provide connectivity. There is an even bigger garden in the rear, an acre or so. I am in gardening heaven, the lady who lives here is a landscape designer too. And luckily, we are not here long enough to have to mow this puppy; that would not be a quick project. We are taking care of 2 dogs and 3 cats, all pretty spoiled. One of the dogs is a chocolate lab (Tommy), he’s about 10 and greying. And the other is a younger bullmastiff rescue (Peggy).  She is smaller than I expected (not much bigger than the lab, except for a massive out-of-proportion head), and less slobbery, and way more cute than we expected. Her wrinkled face is so expressive! She is a real sweetheart. She grunts, and snores, and farts, like a sailor.

The house is surrounded by pastures and agricultural fields accessed by footpaths, so we are doing a lot of walking. One of these is a deer farm. They are inquisitive and just a bit cuter than the sheep we have become used to walking around. Right across the street is a country pub. Neighbors gather for pints of cider or ale, around a fireplace or when the weather is nice a nice outdoor terrace. Convenient!

Being back in civilization, we are getting some TV reception. Last year, English TV was all Brexit. A year later, it is still all Brexit. What a mess that is. We are getting a crash course in English government and their constitution. Actually they don’t have a constitution, the rule is by ”tradition.” I don’t really get it, so I can’t explain it here. Let’s just say, it warms our heart to see another great country as messed up as us. With the major exception that they do not have guns (so no school shootings, or mass shootings, way less crime in general). 

Oxford is a very pretty city and worth a stop if you are near. Story goes that Hitler prohibited the bombing of Oxford because he fancied it for the capital of the UK after he conquered it. He had plans to convert Blenheim Palace for his own. Blenheim is one of those palaces English noble families had for centuries: the size of grand hotels, with Versailles like gardens and fountains. And the added footnote that Winston Churchill was born there. So Oxford was never bombed and still has 1200 years of architecture at its core. 90% of every Harry Potter movie was filmed here it seems. The City is steeped in history. And who doesn’t love a college town. The students are just getting back, classes started this week. They actually walk around in their black robes. They wear them to their dinner halls for supper every night. Each college has a dinner hall where the students and teachers meet every night for supper together.  

We always love to visit old English pubs. We have sat at booths where Hemmingway sat and bars where Shakespeare frequented. There was a Shakespeare haunt here too. Oxford is not too far from Stratford in Avon where Shakespeare  lived and he spent a lot of time socializing with other writers in Oxford. But we found a different celebrity haunt here. A twelfth century watering hole called the Turf pub. It was built right into the city wall in a slum part of town with a maze of allies about 1 yard wide. It has the added historical significance to be the spot where Bill Clinton (in Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar) smoked, but did not inhale, marijuana. These places are small rooms, with low ceilings. I guarantee that if anyone smoked marijuana in there, everyone inhaled some.