Verulamium and the tomb of St Alban

In Roman times, Verulamium was the third largest and most important city in Britain after Londinium (London) and Camulodinum (Colchester). This bustling metropolis of 8000 people suffered a brutal sacking at the hands of Boudicca and her Iceni kinsmen* although plenty of ruins still stand, including a rather impressive amphitheatre.

It was later the site at which Alban, England's first Christian martyr, was put to death. The great cathedral founded here is in great nick, its shrines all restored and gleaming and full of artefacts and stories from days of old.

Apparently it also contains secret underground passageways running under a park to the local pub, Ye Old Fighting Cocks, which is one of several dozen claiming to be the oldest pub in Britain. Cromwell hid here during the Civil War.

Nowadays, St Albans is just another grotty city/suburb on London's fringe, but these gems are well worth poking around for on a day trip...

*The moral of this story is that if you're going to invade someone's country, beat her up and rape her daughters, don't pick the charismatic, newly widowed leader with 70,000 of her friends and family in tow to help her take revenge.... cos she'll be well pissed off, I can tell you.

It's getting hot in here...

Ahhh, global warming, you've got to love it.

England has made global headlines this week after the temperature hit 37oC, the highest ever July temperature. This country just is not set up for >30 degree days -There's just not the ventilation that we're used to, because most buildings and vehicles are designed to keep the heat IN, not let it out. Locally, there have been articles with horror headlines like "44oC on the Tube: 53oC on a bus".

However, as the sole antipodean in my office, I'm loving it!

All about Oxford...

Hmm, I've been far too slack about updating this - I blame the fact that I have a new job, new home and a whole new city and county to explore! Some readers may remember that, when I left Aus, I hoped to find work in energy/greenhouse management, live somewhere gorgeous and historic and outside London, and maybe get stuck into some live music stuff. So far, I'm three from three!!

After 7 weeks, I finally feel like I'm finding my feet in the new job - I'm working for a government-funded NGO providing energy efficiency advice to companies. For the energy geeks, there are some major differences between Aus and the UK - their power, being part nuclear, only produces about 1/3 as much greenhouse gas as in Victoria and natural gas is nowhere near as commonly used as heating oil. The usage profile is different too - where heating and cooling takes up about 35% of energy use in an Aussie home, here in chilly Britain it's a massive 60%! Massive energy price hikes (some companies have seen their gas bill treble in 2 years) mean that energy saving measures pay for themselves faster. And inexplicably, there's way more interest in wind and solar power than at home. Who'da thunk it?! My big challenge though will be to get my head around co-generation (they call it Combined Heat and Power, or CHP, here)

There's the usual bureaucratic joy, and the occasional mad manager, but the lads and lasses I work with are hilarious fun, good for a pint (or five) after work, and have made me feel most welcome. Plus, having a job that is very strictly 9am-5.30pm (with an hour at the pub for lunch) means I can have a life...

Oxford also apparently has an amazing live music scene, which I must get into. Not only is this Radiohead territory, but apparently it's also renowned for folk stuff, which is also close to my heart. If only one knew where to find it... there are apparently a couple of hundred pubs in Oxford, and it will take some time to check them all out...

I'm eating out a lot. Oxford is wickedly good for cheap ethnic food - my street boasts spanish, italian, polish, japanese, chinese, and indonesian, as well as a choice selection of at least 7 pubs within a 3 minute walk from my door!

The history of this place is phenomenal too, and I'm dying to get myself into Oxford Castle, Christ Church, Blackwell's Books (spread over 5 storeys!) and the Bodleian library, just for starters! More about THAT soon.....