Actually it be for the vice chancellors and senior senate members?

I realised that I asked about quite a few types of boat in the video. The brown polished-wood boat off Christchurch Meadow that I've now made my thumbnail; the orange metal high-engineering pressure-vessel thing on the near bank labelled "Norsafe", "70PERSONS", and "LxBxH"; the little motorised boats that were outside most of the boathouses and that I said follow behind the races; and what I said might be the one remaining college barge, the white boat in an inlet on the far bank at the Donnington Bridge end. Is it the last one you're saying is for the vice chancellors etc.?

I did wonder, but after I made that comment about schools, whether it was a school anyway. Didn't one runner have a dog?

What a shame! My mum didn't have those things, she relied on an 'Oleo' book for her recipes.

Thanks for saying! There's massive building going on in N. Oxford too, I saw, where University College are building accommodation on the site of Fairfield Care Home. Not everything is accommodation, though. Have you seen "Begbroke Hill"? See modgov.cherwell.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=4765 , and particularly the description of the proposed works in modgov.cherwell.gov.uk/documents/s56806/23.02098.OUT%20Committee%20Report.pdf . Note that some of the land mentioned has been removed from the Green Belt.

I was thinking about this when I made the Worcester College video, published 19 September. Right at the start, I walk round the outside of Worcester, down the street that leads away from the record shop in Walton Street. At the far end, next to Worcester's Sainsbury Building, there's a low two-story red-brick building which was once the offices of a timber yard. The yard closed in 1970-ish, and now the building is Worcester's graduate common room. Will it ever get back onto the public market for use by someone other than Worcester? I bet not. There's this ratchet effect: the universities acquire land and buildings, then have it for ever.

Oh, that's really nice of you to say. Keep the links: when it's cold and dark in winter, you can still play my little portions of summer sun.

I take the point, but let's give them the benefit of the doubt. Could it be that this music was once not only for Christmas?...

Thanks for saying! I hope you get better. Long Covid, and I really hope you don't have that, is not good. For my latest on how Oxford has changed, see my one about what's going on in Pusey Lane, kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJjFaomAaZmDn7c . Best wishes.

I agree with all your comments. I think there are several things I dislike. First, the plants are boring. You could find what I filmed in any British formal garden. Look at Worcester College, which I'll publish on Thursday, and there are many more exotics there, including a sequoia and what I think are tree ferns. Moreover, wouldn't plants from the regions where Islam was born be appropriate? Figs, persimmons, carob, date, etc.? Things that need only "A Jug of Wine, A Loaf of Bread-and Thou" to be complete. Second, it's a sterile design, as you say: buildings and garden both, apart from a few bits like the mosque. Third, part of that is that it's sparse. Somehow, the density of plants is too low. This is not a garden where the word "lush" comes to mind.

Entering the gardens, I saw myself as a second James Elroy Flecker. As in "For lust of knowing what should not be known, We take the Golden Road to Samarkand." But all I have done was take the Golden Road to Marston Road, and it hasn't told me anything I wanted to know.

I remember the Galloping Horses too. Am I right in saying it was a Noyce roundabout? I went to the October fair and exhibition in Witney a few years ago, and I'm pretty sure they were running it there for the last time. I was told it was hard to get parts, and the people who knew how to maintain it. It had been offered to one of the fairground museums, apparently, but it seems maintenance would have cost the museum too much, so they refused it. Fascinating about Prince Richard, thanks!

More thoughts: since 1970, some stalls are probably no longer allowed, e.g. freak shows. Then, I didn't see a Gypsy Rose this year. There always used to be one. And the rides are probably getting bigger and wider, so you can't fit as many in.

It is fun. Sadly, it's now raining heavily, so I think the final night will be a washout. Perhaps some stallholders will use it as an excuse to break down early and go on to the next venue.

@@WalkingOxfordtrue and nobody will go since is pouring alot some rides my close cuz of it

NASA didn't build it. Ziere built it and it's manufacturers name is a Starshape

Good morning. Yes, it's nice how, by going through the Parks, you can get out into the countryside so quickly. The only thing I don't like is what Brookes University have done, which is why I've been going up Harberton Mead and Jack Straw's Lane rather than up the path by the side of Headington Hill Park. They've cut down loads of trees - so much for we "recognise the key role we play in delivering sustainable operations", as their website says - and built over the ground with a huge extension to their student village. At least I think that's what it is.

@@WalkingOxford don’t believe the hype!, Keep walking, I’m enjoying it a lot ❤️

No problem. Glad you liked it.

Good morning! Glad you liked it.