All turned around

So I thought I was so good with directions until I cycled the wrong way after football/soccer last night. First of all, I don't have bike muscles. There is a huge and really long hill on the way to practice and my legs were seriously feeling the burn. I got off of the bike and the guy was like let's warm up and I was thinking I can barely walk right now. Then after practice I followed one of the girls back to the main road because I'm still not familiar with all of the roads. So she went right and I thought she went right because she was going to the store. Well I went left because I thought that was the way home. So I'm cycling my little heart out and a bus passes that says City Centre. Well typically the buses that say City Centre are going towards City Centre (which is where I wanted to be heading) so I thought hmmm, maybe they always say that. And then a big bus was kind of slowly creeping behind me like a shark and I turned to check the sign and it said Blackbird Leyes which is not a nice part of town so I realized I was in fact cycling away from town. So I had to turn around and cycle back and then realized that if I had taken a right I would have been 5 minutes away from home. Sad times....

Pub lunching

Now that Tom has a car our new thing is to do pub lunches on Sundays. Sunday roasts are a big thing in England and it's cool how the pubs are usually full on Sundays with people out eating their roasts. We went to a gorgeous place on Sunday that had a little house for two ducks (I forget their name now but it said --- and --- house on the oustdie-so cute!). You could also buy eggs from reception. So everything is really fresh and local. Then we explored the town a little and found ruins of an old manor. We didn't really find them, we heard about them at the pub. There was a sign that said "opening hours-any reasonable time" :) I'm including a picture from the ruins. Also, on a side note back to my bike: there are two sections where you can keep your bike during the day at Lincoln. There is a section for the staff in the back and a nice section in the front for the fellows (professors) It is ridiculous how segregated it can be. Oh and they celebrate May Day in Oxford and apparently it is a huge deal and people fill the streets. Negative to May Day equals waking up at 5 am to get a space on the road. Positive to May Day equals talk of champagne breakfasts. I think it is going to be a game time decision.

She's got wheels...

and she sort of knows how to use them! So I got a bike this past weekend. It was actually sunny so I rode home along the river. I feel like an official Oxonian now. Then last night I biked to supper club and felt like a total dork. I had my helmet on (which I think sits higher than other people's helmets) and had my backpack over both shoulders. It was so fun biking (or cycling as they say here) to my friend's house. People are kamikaze bikers here though. I was just going about my business in the bike lane and people were wizzing by me on the outside. One biker almost cut me off on a turn. I almost used my bell on her! :) The bike doesn't come with a kick stand. So when I stopped it I was like how am I supposed to keep this thing up. So not a natural biker/not European. I still need to get lights on the bike so one of my friends gave me a police escort home after supper club. She is German and grew up riding a bike so says she doesn't wear a helmet but is thinking about getting one next winter. Ha! Don't worry mom-I will always wear my helmet no matter how dorky it makes me look. Oh and my other friend gave me a neon badge that a crossing guard would use. I was looking awesome.

Walk in my shoes

I just saw this on Oxford's FB page. It lets you take a little virtual walk around Oxford.

For a quick glimpse of English summer, you can also enjoy a five-minute walk in the sunshine around our historic city centre with this visitor's video (http://youtu.be/h3pXKuO-ydo).

It's pretty shaky and not great and they have clearly found the one sunny day to fool all of these youngsters coming to Oxford.

Let me upgrade ya!

I have been in the US ofA for the past ten days on a work trip. Our Rector and my boss have been traveling with me. Or more I have been traveling with them. The Rector is the college's head of house like a college president. So the two of us are boarding the plane in London and the flight attendant told me to take a left. Now I am not usually told to go left bc I usually sit with the common folk in economy class. I tell you what, having money is where it is! I had champagne in my hand before I'd gotten my pillow out of the plastic. Meanwhile the poor Rector was in the 50th row. A better employee would have offered my seat to him but I wasn't sure when I'd be able to experience it again.  I wasn't smooth about it either and took a picture. One of these things doesn't belong...