Oxford Town & Other Literary Adventures

Yesterday, I made the trip to Oxford while Ned was in meetings. It was beautiful as described, with more than a few similarities to our own Oxford, including a downtown filled with goofy boutique shops that nobody uses, a few overpriced coffee shops, and college students everywhere. The only thing missing were the SUVs, but Double Decker buses more than filled the streets. Tour stops included an exhibition at the Bodleian Library on book binding, the tower at St. Michael's Tower (oldest building in town and the church where William Shakespeare stood as godfather to a friend's child), and a cookie shop where I may have had the very best cookie of my entire life -- no kidding. Here's my only photo in Oxford, at Christ Church, known as "The House." It's where Lewis Caroll crafted the Alice stories, among other things. I thought it appropriate to visit with Baby M, since we'll certainly be reading the books.

This morning, I dropped Ned off to his final day of meetings and made my way to St. Mary's Churchyard in Cholsey, just about three miles away, to find Agatha Christie's grave. I learned yesterday that it was somewhere in the area, so I did a bit of sleuthing online and used my investigator skills (i.e. GPS) to find it. I also chatted with the graveyard keeper, who told me she used to wait on "Mrs. Mallowen" at the bank when she was a young teller. She described her as "the wife of Professor Mallowen," a very small lady, too gentle and polite for anyone to believe that she'd dream up such horrific murder mysteries. It was fun to hear her account. I got the feeling they don't get many visitors out that way.