Sunday, September 18, 2016

Banbury and Oxford

Autumn is here, that’s for sure. It is nippy in the mornings when I awake and difficult to surface from under the covers. I was awake by 6. 30, had a quick shower and left the house without breakfast to make early morning (8.00 am) Mass at the Catholic Oxford Oratory where Cardinal Newman had once preached.

Mass at the Oxford Oratory:

I have been to the Oratory before, so I remembered it well.  It is at St. Giles to which I took a bus and then walked for part of the way. It is an old-fashioned church with an old-fashioned liturgy usually in Latin. The priest faces the altar, not the congregation, as in pre-Vatican II days. People are traditional mass-goers, the ladies wear gossamer veils, men carry heavy black Missals. It always takes me back to the 1960s and Masses in India that I used to attend with my parents. After Mass and Communion, I went to the Parish Center where coffee, biscuits and flapjacks were served and some members of the congregation strolled in. Unlike in the Anglican churches, they made no attempt to reach out to a stranger or a new member of the congregation, so no one came up to welcome me or chat with me. I ate my flapjack and sipped my coffee in solitary confinement almost. We Catholics have a lot to learn from the Anglicans about fellowship.

On the Bus to Banbury:

It was my intention to spend the day out of Oxford and a long bus ride in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds seemed like just the right thing to do. I found out that the bus left at 9.40 from Magdalen Street. This gave me time to get into Sainsburys for almond croissants and into Costa for a takeaway Americano. On the bus, I munched my breakfast and watched the countryside pass me by. Horses in the fields and lots of them—all lying fallow, waiting a new ploughing, were evident. In about 90 minutes, we arrived in Banbury.

Exploring Banbury:

Almost everyone has heard of the nursery rhymne, “Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross/To see a fine lady ride on a white horse/With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes/ She shall have music wherever she goes.” Well, I had learned it too, as a little girl, when my mother used to read these rhymes to me from out of a big Mother Goose Book.  So I was familiar with Banbury but had no idea where it was then.

Even as the bus arrived in the town, I saw both the Banbury Cross and the huge bronze sculpture of the lady on the horse. They are the center pieces of the Town Center which is small and very compact. When the bus put me down at the Coach Station, I walked through the High Street only to discover that Banbury was commemorating the Battle of Britain with a lovely parade featuring the Mayor, mace carrier, troops of war veterans, soldiers, boy scouts and a few lay people. They were all lined up with a band at the front of them. Passers-by took pictures and as I took my place, I watched them march past to the booming of the drum. It was lovely! Such a wonderful, all-British, introduction to an ancient city.

But it was still early and it was a Sunday—so most of the businesses were shuttered and shops closed. So many parts of the UK still keep Holy the Sabbath Day—that’s obvious. They have not succumbed to chasing money bags as we in American have done with our Almighty dollar! I made my way to the Town Center and took the pictures I wanted of the Banbury Cross—it is a nice white stone sculpture in the center with the figures of Victoria, her son Edward and her daughter Louise—whose wedding was commemorated by the Cross in the mid-1800s. The equestrian lady on the horse is equally striking. It is beautifully done with all details in place including the rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, She is supposed to be the Queen of May, so she wears a wreath of flowers. At the Whately Hall Hotel, opposite the Church of St. Mary The Virgin, more crowds had assembled. There was a fly past too and a Spitfire from the war did a few rounds in the skies, much to the cheers of the folks gathered below. I took it all in, the pageantry, the pride, the patriotism. It was all fun to watch.

Then, I entered the church where a special service was being held at 12.00 noon. Since I had already heard Mass, I took in the striking mosaic altar backdrop and the ceiling and the freshly painted pillars. I then took some pictures of the unusual exterior of it. I used the loo in the Whately and then made my way back down the High Street.

I had a couple of purchases I needed to make—dental floss and, most importantly, a new charger cable for my phone as it had stopped working. When I found shops that sold both, I was happy that my mission had been accomplished and I went into Marks and Spencer in the Castle Quay mall which had opened by that time to buy myself some lunch. I settled on a Mushroom, Bacon and Leek Quiche and strolled back to the bus station for my 2.00 pm bus back to Oxford. I would have liked to take another bus to Chipping Norton but on Sundays the buses are few and far between and I had little choice but to take the bus back to Oxford.

Exploring Port Meadow:

I got off a little after Summertown and then took a really long and rambling walk through North Oxford. I headed towards the River Thames (which is called the Isis in these parts) and to the Oxford Canal—both of which converge in this area around a vast field called Port Meadow. I am quite familiar with this area as I have, over the years, walked from Oxford to Wolvercote along the banks of the Isis across Port Meadow and it was one of my objectives to visit this area again.

Today, all I did was walk to the river and the Canal which was quite thickly studded with swimmers, strollers, dog walkers and joggers for it had turned into a beautiful evening. On my way back, I walked along the Canal Tow Path until I reached Canal Road from where I took the roads along St. Barnabus Church and Old Bookbinders Pub (also used in Morse episodes) in Jericho. I popped my head inside and was amazed to see how tiny and yet how cozy it was.

Then, fairly falling with fatigue, I got on a bus and came back home to a very nice dinner. I ate up the last of the shepherds pie, the beetroot and feta cheese and salad and had a brownie and ice-cream for dessert.

It had been a long and very interesting day but I was really really tired and ready to hit the sack after watching another episode of Inspector Morse—which is great fun to do while I am still in Oxford.

Until tomorrow, cheerio…