Winter, Wheels, Woodstock, Work and Witches

The cold snap has finally broken and temperatures have soared to a sultry 8 degrees. Of course, this has brought the rain and Oxford is now wet, grey and dark. The weather has been the major talking point even among the locals who cannot remember such a cold start to winter. It snowed twice last week which was great for the kids but not quite enough to build a snowman.

We have spent this past week busying ourselves with "settling in". We found a new flat, bought a car and finally drove to a big supermarket to stock the fridge (as we hired a car for the weekend)! We did manage to drive to Woodstock, a quaint, historic town, 20 miles north of oxford and famous for Blenheim Palace. Unfortunately it is closed during winter and the kids had fallen asleep in the back so we had an excuse not to leave the warmth and comfort of our rented Land Rover.

Mark started work at the John Radcliffe Hospital last week. A little bit busier than anticipated but will no doubt prove to be an invaluable experience. Wasn't quite counting on the 1 in 7 on-call which was a bit of a surprise.

Meaghan took the boys to a pantomime of Sleeping Beauty. Noah was beside himself with excitment as he loves princess fairy tales and has been asking all week if the witch would be "a real witch". They sure take their pantos seriously in this country and it was a packed house. Noah enjoyed the audience participation -booing when the (real!) witch came on stage and was a little confused if the rotund elderly man dressed as the "good fairy" was real too! Meaghan was actually a bit disappointed that there weren't any Neighbours or Home and Away cast in it! Anyway both boys loved it and Ethan was able to wave and clap at all the right parts (and at other times too).

Some Oxford sites - The Radcliffe Camera (an 18th century library) and Church of St MAry the Virgin (14th century).....

Settling In

Arrived in Oxford Dec 26th after eventful flight with Noah requiring medical attention in Singapore after vomiting on plane. Thankfully second leg wasn't quite as dramatic. We are staying in a nice modern apartment in Jericho which is a trendy area with great cafes, pubs, restaurants and theatres (not that we've been able to enjoy many of these with 2 young kids). We're a 15 minute walk from the city centre and a short bus trip to the hospital. It's been absolutely freezing with maximum temperatures between 0 and 3 degrees. The major canal in Oxford is frozen solid and it even snowed today (quite beautiful). There are few hours of daylight (8am to 4:30pm) but at least it hasn't rained (yet).




Managed to get to London for a day mainly to sort out administrative stuff but looking forward to returning and seeing the sights.






Oxford is a truly beautiful city and we look forward to exploring it. So far have only managed to check out the sales in the city, attempt to navigate our way through the supermarkets and go to the Natural History Museum (see photos). Also took a stroll through Port Meadow - open fields with horses grazing literally around the corner from our flat.

I have to say that England does not seem so "kid friendly" - our mountain buggy stroller (with Noah on the skate board on the back) is like a massive tank driving through the streets, (which the Poms are not keen on)! The English still live by the old adage that "children must be seen and not heard". The dear old ladies seem to like Ethan though. BTW Ethan can now clap and wave on demand! So cute. Clearly it's the Oxford academic environment. Here's Ethan at the pub....