I'm dreaming of a white... Easter!

Yes, it's true. Although I'm yet to see a white Christmas in England (or on any of my past jaunts to Europe), we have had a white Easter in Oxford this year. Easter Saturday dawned bright and sunny, and I mentally pooh-poohed the weathermen who predicted freezing and snow. (When do they ever get it right). By lunchtime, I had to eat my words, as band after band of cloud flew overhead, resulting in a day of sunny patches interspersed every half hour or so, with downpours of rain, hail, sleet and eventually fat flakes of snow in wild flurries all over the lawn. There was never enough for it to collect on the ground, but Ants was snowed on again this morning on his way home from work.

According to Ants we're not going to have another Easter this early for 152 years, so it's likely to be the last. That's probably not a bad thing...

Where to get Cherry Ripes in London

It's the one major chocolate fix I miss... cherry ripe bars. Now, i've found where you can get them, along with Twisties, Chokitos, NZ Pineapple lumps and all kinds of other foreign snacky goodness. Not cheap, but cheaper than anywhere else I've seen in the UK.

Thank you Cybercandy!!

(Note to self: next time, place order before the third bottle of red at Guy and Sal's... you've no business spending 13 quid (that's $33 in Aussie dollars) with still two weeks to pay day...)

On tour with the band... in Devon

I've spent this weekend playing groupie to two of Oxford's most enduring names in Music: the (modestly titled) Legendary Pete Fryer Band and The Mighty Redox, fronted by brothers Pete and Phil Fryer, and Phil's partner Sue.

Twice a year, 'clan Fryer' score themselves a gig on the south coast of England, and take 60 or so of their friends and family along for the weekend to fill up the venue. It's a pretty time-hungry way to gather a crowd, but it guarantees a packed house, and for those of us without wheels, 60 quid for transport and B&B accommodation is a pretty good deal. So I turned out on a grim Saturday morning to board the coach for Devon... and discovered just how interlinked the Oxford music scene can be.

I met Phil and Sue through my pals the Original Guy Pearce and the Fabulous Sal Moore, at their regular Wednesday open mike down the Folly Bridge Inn. But it turns out Phil and Sue are also the parents of a bloke named Sparky (I'm sure that's not what they named him, but no-one calls him anything else!) who runs Sparky's Flying Circus, an open mike night at the Half Moon on Thursdays... so suddenly I discovered I was weekending with a whole lotta old friends, as well as a small number of new ones.

And what a cracking time was had by all. Coach trip down was populated with outbursts of random singing, the video of last summer's trip to the Isle of Wight, random conversations and piss-take music documentaries such as The Rutles. Arrived in Paignton, near Torquay, in Devon, just in time to check into our B&Bs and find a pub that was showing the last two games of the 6 nations. As it happened, the pub we chose was putting on free snacks between matches, and was full of loads of other clan Fryer regulars, all of whom seemed mad keen on buying yours truly a drink. Over the next 4 pints, England salvaged some remnant of dignity by beating Ireland (having lost to Wales and Scotland! hah!) and Wales won the tournament with a clean sweep of everyone and a thorough thumping of dirty France (they may be the prettiest team, but they don't play nice, les bleus!).

There was just enough time to order a quick countery (a bargain at less than 6 quid!) and then head to the gig. I'll let the photos speak for themselves...

Guy Pearce - the original and the best
Welsh James - a happy boy this weekend!
Jeremy the amazing dancing hippyThe Legendary Pete Fryer (of the Legendary Pete Fryer Band) and Phil Fryer, of The Mighty Redox

Devon - the adventure continues...

Next morning saw us all up bright and early....(yeah, right - me and my room mate Joan got up for a fryup brekkie and then went back to bed 'til kick-out time at 10am).

Eventually, though, many of us managed to congregate on the beach. Some crazy people decided to go for a paddle, the rest of us took photos and went for hot chocolate. The pub from the night before reopened at midday, and we all piled in for a carvery (fiver a head - bargain!) and an open mike, hosted of course by the unsinkable Sparky. I got a bad case of nerves, but managed some aussie tunes, then settled down with a pint to watch everyone else strut their stuff.

Suddenly, it was 3pm and time to board the bus back to Oxford. Had a cracking time though, and we're already making plans to head down to Devon again.

Crazy people
Sane people (they may beg to differ - this is Phil and Sue) Pretty beach views

Introducing James, the random american

I've had to take a week's leave to use up holidays before the end of financial year (which, for some reason that still confounds me, is on March 31).

Was desperate to get away somewhere, but even more desperately want to buy a laptop, so I'm holidaying at home. And I'm having a lovely time!

I've recorded music for the first time. Well, I call it music. My friend Guy, who sound engineered for me, says it's brilliant, but then he recorded it. Anyway, I had fun and will post a link to a myspacemusic site as soon as I get organised.

I've also had long lazy lunches with my chums Sophie (who makes the most heavenly green pea soup!) and Helen, who works at Oxford Uni Press, which has a dead posh building that looks like a cross between a college - complete with quad - and a fortress.

I'm digressing already. So, am enroute home after liquid lunch with Helen and passing the Eagle and Child pub, which is famous for two things:
1. it's where tolkein, cs lewis et al used to drink
2. it's almost impossible to get a seat in one of the two tiny 'snugs' at the front of the pub.

Being mid afternoon and quiet, I thought I'd try my luck and, shazaam! there's a seat in the snug. Hooray for me! I was shortly joined by James the Random American, who had been in the UK for all of 2 hours, but having flown all the way from North Carolina to spend 6 days in Oxford studying CS Lewis, his first port of call after finding his hostel was the Eagle and Child.

I was so impressed I offered to show him around. Over the course of the afternoon we found Magdalene College, Christ Church Meadow, the cheap internet cafe and some landmark pubs, including the Bear, and the Head of the River.

Friday we hooked up for more drinksy goodness, taking in the Kings Arms, the Turf Tavern and one of the Mitres. I didn't mean it to turn into an 8 pint jag, but it did, and I was really grateful for the £3 burgers they were dishing up at the Turf.

So I'm sticking to my resolution about going to the gym every day, but at the end of the week, I'm heavier, not lighter. Damn cider...