Seen Around Oxford

So, all over Oxford are things you won't see in most other places in the world. Below are a smattering of them. For starters, here is the place where Greg's colleague Alex suggested he buy a tuxedo. But with jackets alone starting at around $700, we probably won't.  Do note the "Established" date as being 1689. Wow. Of course, by Oxford standards, that's fairly recent.

Here is the entrance to our home, the Postmaster's House. Can't you almost picture William Shakespeare walking out with a recent manuscript in his hands?

And here is our front door, which we do not use, but many other people do, and at very early hours of the day. And loudly. Those front rooms on the ground floor are meeting rooms that Merton College people use for meetings and conferences. Early risers, they are. Bless their hearts.

When I first saw this sign, it seemed very Monty Python-esque. I now know what it means, but I almost preferred when I didn't! What the heck???

Boy, is there a story behind this . . . which I'm pretty sure I don't want to know. Knickers on a post. Musta been some night. Seen on the way to a very posh dinner tonight at St. Cross College, to honor an acquaintance of Greg's who has just become a professor here. In such cases, they give an Inaugural Lecture, which Greg's friend Steve Balbus did, on the subject of "Turning in the Widening Gyre: Accretion Processes in the Universe". Which I know most of you read up on earlier today. Me too.

And then I love this sign at the escalator at Debenhams, a local department store. Please note the 2nd line: "Dogs shall be carried". Which presumes that dogs will be coming in the store. Love it.

 

And so many faces carved in stone around the city! Some quite hilarious. I think this lion is just classic.

 

And finally, the beautifully named Bridge of Sighs, after a bridge in Venice. This also was on our way to dinner, shortly after the Underwear Episode (Oxford is a study in contrasts . . .)  That woman in front was a lovely woman named Judy, who is a retired scholar of Medieval Literature at Cambridge.