St. Anne’s is north of the town centre. I walked south Woodstock Road.
Across the street, on the west side, is the Radcliffe Infirmiary.
After dinner, the more social attendees staying at St. Anne’s meet at the Royal Oak Pub just down the street.
Before arriving at in the main shopping area in Oxford, I noticed St. Giles Church.
In the new world (i.e. North America), it’s not so common to have a cemetery so prominent on the church grounds.
I would have thought that tombs lying flat on the ground would be more durable, but either the weather or some large weight cracked this one.
One marker was unreadable, but the other two were may have been for father and son who both passed in the first half of the 1800s.
The larger grave markers were presumably placed by wealthier families.
On this early morning, the church itself was quiet.
Since I come to Oxford for conferences, I’m unfortunately not free during visiting hours at the Ashmolean Museum across from St. Giles.
Walking into town, I passed between the Martyr’s Memorial and the Randolph Hotel.
Cornmarket Street is one-way northbound, and the buses were running frequently with commuters.
South of George Street, Cornmarket Street becomes a pedestrian mall. On the corners are Waterstones Booksellers, a NatWest Bank, and Debenhams.
I was out a bit early for the shops on Cornmarket to be open.
I found Market Street, and turned east.
It wasn’t too early for the Oxford Covered Market to be open for business.
Seeing whole hogs being delivered in the morning set an expectation about the style of the market.
The greengrocer had a colourful bounty of fruit.
Fresh fish was just being put out in the displays on ice.
The fishmonger came out in boots.
Freshly baked goods were ready for shoppers.
The plant store doesn’t open as early as the food shops.
The patisserie had a few patrons enjoying their breakfast.
I wouldn’t expect the barbershop to open until later in the morning.
On this weekday, the sandwich and coffee bar only had a few customers.
Just outside the butcher’s shop is a postbox.
The butcher was still wheeling in inventory for the day.
The Brits love their sausages!
I left the Covered Market and turned back up Cornmarket Street. The shops were starting to wake up.
A side benefit of coming to Oxford is the opportunity to schedule meetings outside the conference. Allenna and Jim and I made an appointment to see Jerry and Rafael.
Rafael’s office in the Said Business School, although faculty cross-appointments make it hard to track his affiliations. There’s an open courtyard in the middle of the school.
Jerry was also going to the conference at St. Anne’s, so we all walked up together just before lunch.
After two days at the conference, Jennifer brought the rental car around to drive the four of us back for some sessions at Hull. We managed to cram all of the luggage in.
I first came to Oxford over a decade ago on a real vacation with DY. These days, having an hour or two to just see the town is a luxury.