"A Trip to the Library" - from the musical "She Loves Me", 1963

Don't you think that's the most beautiful library card ever? It's my new Oxfordshire County library card, which I got last night.

John suggested yesterday that we should join our village library. It was a great idea - and I really don't know why, in the almost 5-1/2 years I've lived there, I'd never joined. But I hadn't.

So after work yesterday, we took a walk over there and joined.

It's a terrific little library with a lot of resources. Man, have libraries changed since I last got a library card! For example, using your library card number, you can sign up for an online account with the Oxfordshire library system. You can then search all of the public libraries in the county; and for 85 pence (about $1.70, for my US readers), your local library will arrange to get any book located in any other Oxfordshire library. And for a little over £4 ($8+), they will get you any book located in any library anywhere in the entire country! Very efficient!

But one part of the application process really amused me. On the back side of the form was a section of optional questions...you know, the kind of things that county government would use to track the demographics of their users.

The first question was about ethnicity. Under the category of "White", I could tick one of the following boxes:

British
Irish
Other White

I don't recall ever being an "Other White" before!

Janet

Part 2: "48 Horas (48 Hours)" - Mylene, 2003

As you'll be able to see from the photos which follow, the strike by public-sector workers in Oxford continues today (as planned). I took these photos this morning, around 7:30, in various parts of the city centre.

Isn't it a shame that the litter is spoiling some really nice views of this historic city?

Click on any of the photos below for a full-sized image.

Janet

"48 Horas (48 Hours)" - Mylene, 2003

I heard on this morning's news that public-sector workers in parts of Wales, Northern Ireland, and England have begun a 48-hour strike today, to protest the pay increase proposed by local governments. I wondered (to myself) if Oxford might be affected.

As soon as I got off the park and ride bus in the city centre this morning, I got my answer. I grabbed my camera once I'd gotten nearly to Carfax Tower and took the following photo:



(Click on either photo for a larger version.)

This was taken at around 7:35 in the morning. Cornmarket Street is generally very clean at that hour of the day. Looking at this photo, I realize that I didn't photograph the worst of it - in places, the trash was already overflowing from the bins.

As I continued to walk to the office, I passed the Oxford City Council offices. There were a couple of Unison picketers...



I can hardly imagine how bad this is going to get by Friday morning. Perhaps - if I dare - I'll take a few more shots later today and again tomorrow. Thinking of all of the tourists in town, the trash is likely to become really awful.

Janet

AFTERNOON UPDATE:
I carried the camera in my hand with me as I walked back to the bus this evening. I didn't see much trash...perhaps the merchants along Cornmarket Street did their own cleanup? But the crowds of tourists were so bad that I'm not sure I wouldn't see a trash bin anyway. (Note to my readers: I would suggest not coming to Oxford during June/July/August. Come before or after, when it's not so crowded. And the weather might be just as good anyway.)

Here's what Cornmarket Street looked at 4:15pm today...

"This Might Be Satire" - Propagandhi, 1994

I didn't hear about this story until late this afternoon, when John and I were waiting at the Manor Hospital's outpatient area for an appointment with his surgeon. (His latest MRI looks pretty good - and any residual neck/shoulder pain is due to scar tissue from January's surgery and should resolve itself over the next two or three months. Fingers crossed!) John showed me a newspaper article about this cover on the latest edition of "The New Yorker".

Here's the BBC's take...as well as the thoughts of a columnist from the "Guardian" newspaper.

I also didn't really get the fist-bumping reference. But here's where I got my explanation - from the "Washington Post".

I've always been a big fan of "The New Yorker"...and their famous cartoons. But they've gone to far this time - in the name of satire.

To me, this isn't satire at all. It's offensive. And it's playing right into the hands of conservative Republicans.

Janet

"A Song for Richard and His Friends" - Chicago, 1972

Some time back, I was chatting with one of my co-workers here in Oxford. We were talking about British athletics. Richard told me that a lifelong friend of his is a triple-jumper, and that he (the friend) was hoping to make it to the Beijing Olympics this year as part of the British team.

Well, I've just seen on the BBC's website this morning that Richard's friend - Nathan Douglas - has indeed made the team, despite having some recent hamstring problems. That's really good news!

I've also found an interesting article about how Douglas' training has benefited from lottery funding.

It's going to be much more fun watching the British track & field team, knowing that there's a local guy - who's a friend-of-a-friend - on the team!

Oh...and for my American friends, of course I haven't abandoned support for the American team, either. Naturally, my special favorite is Tyson Homosexual.


Janet

"I Turned Out the Lights" - John Mars, 1999

I recently wrote here about the two-part episode of "Doctor Who" which was the finale for this most-recent series. And yesterday evening, John discovered that both parts were being re-shown on BBC 1. Of course we watched again!

I have found this interesting review of the series that just ended. I agree with most of what the author has written, although perhaps he's a little tough on the Daleks (suggesting they now give too many warnings before incinerating their victims).

My favorite episode of the season was "Turn Left". Perhaps it's because the idea of time lines - and the repercussions if a time line were to be altered - has always really appealed to me. It's one of my favorite sci-fi themes.

But there's no doubt that my favorite quote from the series has been: "Hey! Who turned out the lights?". It sends a chill down my spine just thinking about it. (But I don't believe that the storyline of that episode quite exceeds my love for the chilling episode called "Blink ", from the previous season. It's right up there with some of the best work Hitchcock ever produced.)

And I can't wait to see Professor River Song again - and I'm sure we will!

It's been a really terrific series this time. But I'm eagerly anticipating what will happen next, as Steven Moffatt takes over from Russell T Davies. Unfortunately, we will have a long wait - until Christmas. Reminds me of when I was a kid...

Janet

"I Keep Forgettin' " - Michael McDonald, 1982

I think I mentioned, earlier in the week, that I had done some unpacking and reshuffling in our garage over the weekend? Well, one of the most fun discoveries I made was a book packing box full of my life's collection of 45 rpm records! (I hate to think this, but some of my readers may not even know what those are...!)

I started acquiring music at a very young age. Thinking about it, I believe I was only about 7 years old when I began to spend my allowance money on singles. So it was with great eagerness that I went through them last night, putting each little treasure safely on a shelf in our study.

One of the picture covers especially caught my eye, and I thought I'd share it with my readers today.

(Click on each image if you'd like to see a full-sized copy of the photo.)

The first thing that stuck me when I saw this was how incredibly young they all looked. I guess they would. This single is - oh - around 44 or 45 years old, right?





Now, zooming in, you can see the second thing that caught my attention. Each of the four Beatles are labelled with their names! I suddenly remembered the story - I had asked my father to type each of their names on the cover, because for awhile I kept forgetting which Beatle was which. [You know the old saying...to Americans, all Englishmen look alike, right? ;-) ]




And thirdly, take a close look at Paul. He's holding a burning cigarette in the photo! When do you see that on a CD cover anymore?


Have a great weekend, everybody!

Janet

"I Walk the Line" - Johnny Cash, 1964

Whether it's referred to as a "line" or a "queue" - and whether you're "in line" or, like in New York City, "on line" - there are different rules of behavior in dealing with waiting lines, depending upon where in the world you are.

I've learned pretty quickly that in England, queues are almost as sacred as they are in Manhattan. I learned that very quickly when I moved to NYC in 1986. But besides the line/queue difference, there's a big difference in the way the unwritten rules are policed in the two locations.

In New York, he/she who dares to break into an existing line will get verbally admonished first. If that doesn't work after the first or second try, he/she is then likely to be shoved out of their offending position. That's just the way it is there. Do not dare break the sanctity of a line...for anything.

In England, the people in the queue who are being bumped back frown and grumble and mumble to each but say or do absolutely nothing to the offenders.

So here's what happened to me after work yesterday. It was pouring with rain in Oxford. The queue for the two northerly park and ride buses is combined into one big waiting line, as both the 300 and the 500 buses depart from the same bus stop. There's a bus shelter there, but only about 8-10 people will fit underneath. I was about number 12, so I was standing in the rain (but under my ever-with-me umbrella). I was getting a little wet, but that's par for the course when you live in Britain.

I noticed a group of about 15 students milling around in front of a Border's shop two or three doors down. I remember vaguely wondering if they were going to try to crash the bus waiting line. Also, about 15 people (with umbrellas, I should add) were taking cover nearby in front of the box office of the cinema. I was thinking that was OK, as long as they waited for the end of the queue before trying to board the bus.

The 300 bus (not mine) came first. None of the students, nor the folks in front of the cinema, made a move. So far, so good. And a few of the people under the bus shelter boarded the 300, so I shifted up under cover. I was now the 7th person in the queue.

And then the 500 bus rounded the corner and approached. The woman behind me muttered something about how she bet all of the other people were going to try to move ahead of us waiting patiently in the queue. I was thinking the same thing.

The 6 people ahead of me must have been thinking the same thing, too, as we all shifted forward, very tightly, toward the curb where the bus would soon open its doors.

And here came all of the queue jumpers as well.

I said to the woman ahead of me the we should make sure we all got on the bus first. Another woman farther ahead heard me and said she agreed. I heard several "Yes, that's right!" comments coming from those around me. And we moved forward. And so did the queue breakers.

I think I must have said something, again, like "We should not let them do that." And the woman (British - as all of the women around me were) ahead of me said, "Oh, YOU should be the one to do something!" (Because I'm American, I thought!)

And so you know what? I did! I put on my best "New York" aggressive face and posture. I stepped out of the line slightly, spread myself out as wide as I could, and said to the interlopers that I wasn't going to let any of them on the bus ahead of me. I then sort of guided all of the people directly in front of and behind me onto the bus, blocking the path of all but one of the most aggressive of the students. One of the students (German? Dutch?) glared at me and told me that they'd been waiting "a long time" for the bus. I told him so had we, and we were waiting in the bus queue. "I didn't see a bus queue.", he said. I said something to him like what did he think all of us were doing snaked down under the bus stop cover and sidewalk/pavement behind the sign for the 300 and 500 buses. He shrugged and said something under his breath. And I made sure he didn't get on ahead of me!

When I boarded, the driver was one of the few female bus drivers for the park and ride buses. I told her we had a bunch of queue-jumpers out there - the drivers are usually very good about watching that people don't do that, but the crowd at the door of the bus in this case was really big and disorganized - and with a wide smile on her face, she said that it appeared that I'd at least handled some of them. I got a kick out of that.

I'm usually not that pushy. But I was "the assertive American" at that moment.

And this morning, one of the ladies near me yesterday smiled and said "Good morning!" to me for the very first time when we boarded this morning's 500 bus at the park & ride station!

Janet