Oxford

In 1988 I went to work at the Castrol Technology Centre near the small town of Pangbourne. The Centre was in a beautiful situation looking down on the Thames and in the grounds of a large house. After a short spell renting I bought a house in Oxford. The intention was to move eventually as a family but Annette was established in a job and Martin and Alison in school so we put our move off until circumstances changed, and we never did move,

Frances at 13 came to live with me. We decided that my house in Littlemore was rather close to Blackbird Leys a suburb which was notorious for crime and vandalism. The secondary school there we wished to avoid so she went to Cheney which was next door to Brookes University, the second University in the city and quite central. The big attraction when she first came were 2 comic shops near her school route She was an avid collector of graphic novel series..

Although I was some 20 miles from Castrol it was a very easy journey. With nary a traffic light along the route it was a stress free half hour drive.. My office on the upper floor of he Production Engineering building looked out onto the gardens and over the valley of the Thames. It was common for muntjack deer to graze on the lawns. My group was in the lab next door, with offices along the corridor  while the departmental secretaries were just along the corridor in the other direction. The Production Engineering Manager ( my boss ) had a large office overlooking the quadrangle formed by a series of labs and test houses..

Oxford was a delightful place to live. Thanks to its large student population and its tourist trade it has far more than usual plays, concerts and the like. It also has good bookshops which I appreciate. Blackwells is probably the most famous. From the street it appears quite small but it is like a Tardis with a vast underground area. As might be expected in this academic city the range of subjects is enormous..

Although we didn’t see too much of her Alison was a student at the university at University College. When I had many months off work following a stroke Frances would live with her ( very unofficially ) in her rooms. Our routine then was to spend Friday to Monday at my house with Frances staying with Alison Tuesday through Thursday. This imposed a great strain as I was an outpatient two days a week and Annette was doing a part time job.

In altogether happier times we alternated between the Midlands and Oxford for weekends before I was ill. Martin was able to work at the Technology Centre during his long vacations. Annette had the school French exchange students as lodgers and companions. These were final year university students of English who were polishing their skills while also acting as French assistants at school.   As might be imagined these charming young girls attracted a variety of young men which was sometimes a problem.

Oxford isn’t all dreaming spires as depicted in Morse, and all its spin offs, on TV. It is also an industrial city with a big car factory. This was formerly Morris but now BMW Mini in the Cowley area. It also has its rougher parts. However in general it is delightful. The river Isis ( as the upper reach of the Thames is known ) flows through the city. It provides for all sorts of water sports particularly rowing. All the University Colleges have rowing teams. My house was fairly near Sandford where the river widens after a lock  and is very picturesque.

A section of the river called Parsons Pleasure was set aside for nude bathing. There is a story of three men bathing there when inadvertently a punt containing young ladies comes past. On the bank two of the men cover their genitals while the third covers his face. When questioned his reply was “ I don’t know how you are known in this city but for myself ….”

My boss was not above the occasional practical joke. Once I was away on April Fools Day and I returned to find a card wishing me well on leaving, signed by all my staff,  plus a pile of rubbish bags and a terse note from him saying “ tidy up before you leave”.  This was slightly barbed as his complaint against me was that I was untidy.

Generally I had a fairly good relationship with my boss. His pet peeves were marketing, people with higher degrees and women at work. I once hired a lady with a doctorate from marketing. He remarked “ I hope this works out OK”  It did.

The Sheldonian theatre illustrated isn’t a theatre in the modern sense at all but the university meeting hall where for example award ceremonies take place. It has ( very uncomfortable ) tiered seating inside.