Just over 3 weeks ago, with Sheldon (our ever increasingly clapped out VW) packed to the gunwales, the boy and I drove off into the sunset in search of a new life in Paradise Square, Oxford. After only 3 weeks, with the interruption of Glastonbury in the midst, and 3 days of the week spent in the suburban limbo of Uxbridge, I can’t say I feel like much of a local yet, but it certainly feels cool to be discovering somewhere new.
The escape from a stressful London existence hasn’t been quite as stress free as we would hope. The commute has been trying and we are thanking our lucky stars that it only has to be made 3 days of the week. Sustainability considerations make us want to use public transport, but the dreaded bus has been sufficiently horrendous on too many occasions already such that the purchase of a suitable commuter mobile is already being explored (no Sheldon would not do…). Fortunately my conscience has been eased slightly by one of the transport planners at work who unprompted, quite convincingly told me that 2 people car-sharing was just as sustainable as public transport. Dunno if I believe that one entirely but who am I to argue?
The town itself is slightly strange. As you would imagine there’s a lot of students, but there also seems to be a good proportion of chavs and luckily for us we seem to have lots as neighbours, prompting the coining of ‘chav alley’ as the description for where we live… Our bad luck would also have it that the two pubs within closest staggering distance are both gay pubs, which I don’t have anything against in particular, but from nosing in the window every time I walk past they appear meat-market like, so the search will be on for a new local (as soon as dry July has passed that is..)
On the plus side, Oxford is so small, it feels like you could get anywhere within 10 minutes and there is none of the hiking across town on the tube for an hour to meet someone. The city is also surrounded by green space, with a multitude of lush picnic spots, the Thames runs through it and there are even cows!
The most amusing aspect of this wee town that I have observed thus far is the proliferation of ‘white ladies’. On my 5 minute walk home from the bus each day I pass at least 5 of these purveyors of lovely hot crap. There’s clearly a big market for drunken students to wolf down kebabs and burgers on the way home, for there to be one every 50m and for them to all have enough business. And on the walk back to the bus the next morning we pick our way through the detritus of leftovers, vomit and Styrofoam burger cartons. Tasty! I don’t remember there being ‘white ladies’ in Dunedin (sure there must’ve been one or two), seems like this could be a good money spinner if there’s any budding entrepreneurs out there… just make sure you cut me in.
I definitely miss elements of London, but it feels refreshing to be out of the city for awhile, almost like I’m on holiday though. It hasn’t really sunk in that I’ll never be going back to my old bedroom at Fairhazel Gardens, quite a strange and slightly sad feeling.
But nevertheless London is only a short bus ride away which is a nice security blanket for the day when you feel a sudden urge to surround yourself with a great wave of humanity, go to a sweaty indie gig in Camden, Borough Market or simply to meet up with abandoned London pals. It’s a perfect way to leave London I think, knowing you can go back at any time. Cold turkey would have been too hard. But hopefully it will wean us off enough that when the day comes that we head back to home ‘for good’ it won’t feel so hard. Right now it seems an enticing and distasteful thought in equal measure. Guess that means I’m just not ready for a different Paradise, so I’ll stick with the Oxford version for now. Or should i just call it what it really is? ‘chav alley’.
Paradise it has become clear is much like beauty, in the eye of the beholder. After 3 weeks scouring the shores of Malaysia I am afraid that my paradise is somewhat different in definition to that of the numerous tourist brochure. Fortunately for me NZ is still as it was left (all be it a little colder and wetter than in March) its great to be home…