Miss Lizzy comes to town...

The less said about the start of Lizzy's visit to Oxford, the better...

Having estimated she'd hit town at midday, I woke at 9am to the sound of battering on my door and a bellowing 'hello, is anyone home' from below my window. Yes, she'd cleared customs in record time, the bus had hit no traffic problems and after 24 hrs on the plane from Melbourne she wanted a shower, dammit.

I found clothes, but no shoes, opened the door, walked into the loungeroom and promptly skidded through a massive pile of cat-shit on the carpet, thanks to my charming housemate who had, once again, left her cat locked in the house for more than 24 hours while she was away...

Did I mention I was in bare feet?

A more ungodly smell I never did encounter. After much retching and copious gloved handling, I managed to make the room presentable. But it wasn't a good start.

We made amends - walked into town through the scenic 'back way' that meanders through a meadow, over the Cherwell, past the immaculately tended University Parks.

At length we arrived at the Pitt Rivers museum: tucked away behind the dinosaur skeletons of the Natural History Museum, and home to immaculate ethnic textiles, shrunken heads, and other 'stuff we nicked'. It's like a baby british museum...

Off to the Eagle and Child afterwards for pintage, via the leafy hollows of Lamb and Flag passage, down the high street, past King Henry's stables and Christ Church meadow to the Thames and the Head of the River pub... I was soooo impressed with Lizzy's stamina, cos it's not like she slept much on the plane...

Our time was all too short. Our clever girl is off to teach the English all about customer service up in Birmingham (something many English people could definitely benefit from even an introductory course in!!). But we're hoping to catch up in Wales in a few weeks, when Ants and I head down to Caerphilly for my first show...