Gemma has gone away for the summer so she has sub-let her room to Rueben who is here from Spain to study english for 6 weeks. Reuben`s sister, Lara, came to visit for his first week and I went out with them a couple of times. Me and Lara went to Oxford to do a bit of sight-seeing.


We bought a little booklet which had a little map and walking tour which we followed around the town centre. Oxford is a really pretty town, mostly because the college buildings haven`t been vandelised in the same way that the shops on the high street have. One of the first colleges on our little tour was Christchurch. Lara had heard that it was the most beautiful to look at inside so we paid the obligatory entrance charge (It`s best to go to Oxford with your wallet open) and had a look around. The chapel really was amazing, with the best stained glass I have ever seen by a long way. The priest was inside and he gave us a mini guided tour. The rest was o.k, but not worth the money. I think that you get the best of it just from looking at the outside. Anyway, we decided just to go into this one, it was nice to have a little rest inside.


This is quite a typical Oxford thing to do, punting on the Thames. It reminds me of Three Men in a Boat, which I would like to read soon.


Continuing with the buildings theme, this is part of the Bodelien (sp?) Library in Oxford. It is linked to the main building via an underground tunnel and it, like The British Library, recieves a copy of everything published in the UK.


After all that walking around and lying in the sun we retired to the pub. This place is day-light-robbery, they may as well have used a gun. Don`t ever come here if you are actually thirsty.

On Monday I went to watch a radio show being made. If you want to listen to the programme I went to see you can find it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/personality_test/

It has been really hot these last few days, I`ve just been reading whilst sitting on my bed beause that is about all I`ve had the energy to do. Well apart from Tuesday, I went and got myself a reader pass for the British Library so that I can read the books that are on my reading list for my course in Sept.

There has been quite a serious thing going on in the house. Some quite clearly in-humane creature has been acting so selfishly. It is no surprise that someone wrote this on the notice board:

To Lounge Dwellers,
Don`t forget to plump up the sofa cushions after you use them. Thx.

Well, I think if that is all we need to worry about then maybe things aren`t too bad...

On Friday I saw a couple of bands. I had to walk a really long way though because the train station was closed due to a murder. Anyway, I got there in plenty of time, if a bit tired.


The first was Operation Wolf, which I liked a lot. Quite pop-y with some shouting. It was their last gig. About half way through their set a tiny little man in his late 30`s started randomly dancing on the stage, I think he was trying to impress the girl drummer.


The next band was Darren Hayman`s band. He was in a band called Hefner and he is a bit of a hero of mine, so it was good to see him. He was going to become a teacher but he said he gave it up and decided to try and make his living with his music again. His band were really good and tight but I got the feeling when I was talking to him that he is quite uncomfortable being a bit famous, I guess I might be like that if I were him too.


Yesterday I went to see Antony & Cleopatra at The Globe. It was a lot better than I thought it would be because last time I saw some Shakespeare it was supposed to be a comedy but it wasn`t funny. This time it was a tragedy so I think I had different expectations. It was much funnier than the other one I went to see, the actors were very good. (http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/navigation/framesetNS.htm)

Today is the Wimbledon men`s final and the final of the World Cup, so I will be being lazy and watching tv all day.