Oxford's musical underbelly

I like this place better and better the more I stay here. It's gorgeous, the food is good, the pubs are fantastic, the history is world class. There's a very famous uni here and I can be a complete academic wanker.

It's friendly, and the uncanniest things happen here. As part of my 'Gods, I've been here three months and I still haven't seen ANY of Oxford' epiphany, I've started taking myself around to some of Oxford's more famous pubs.

A couple of days ago I found a most Hallowed Turf indeed... the Turf Tavern does hard-to-find-down-little-laneways, low ceilings and a massive range of stuff on tap all with infinite flair. I was famished, so I ordered chips and headed for the beer garden. Surprise - there were no tables. So I asked a couple of harmless looking older geezers if they'd mind if I sat at the far end of their table, and they obligingly welcomed me into a seat.

After a bit one of them went to the gents so his mate started making polite conversation with me. By the time gent no. 1 returned, I knew his name was Ed and he was from Aberdeen, and that he and his mate Charlie, to whom I'd been chatting, were a pair of recreational folkies from wayback. They put me in touch with a pub called the Marlborough, which runs an open mike on Wednesdays and they were planning to play. Well, Charlie was. So last Wednesday I rocked up, and there they were. They fairly obviously don't get a chance to practice much together - after all, it's a long hike from Aberdeen to Oxford - but they were charming and I also got to meet some of the folk that run the session - some very muso types named Guy and Sal and a half-Brit, half-German wannabe-Aussie named Barney who lives next door to the pub - with his mum. Quirky but interesting. He's a huge wine buff and very into music and rather like what I imagine the evil twin brother of my Dublin pal Jonathan might be like...

Be that as it may, I now technically have friends in Oxford (other than my work chums). And I owe a special thanks to Barnes for introducing me to two haunts literally on my doorstep that, to my shame, I hadn't managed to find for myself.

The first is the KazBar - a moroccan/spanish themed tapas joint that does free tapas with your first drink until 7pm... and at £2.60 for a proper amontillado, it's hard to beat!

The second is a pub called the half moon. I've heard lots of musicky people talk about it - Barney included, he reckons its where the hardcore folkies hang out - and have only just realised that it's about 200 metres from my house. I ducked in on Sunday evening to try to catch their session... and at 8.30pm was horrified to find the place empty. Having strode in boldly, I felt like a right dill just walking out again, so I ordered a pint ... and watched a trickle of incoming guitar and fiddle cases become a stream. By 10pm the place was packed - and it was then that I learned that this place is reputed to have a licence til 3am...

I am SO coming back here... if only sessions weren't on a school night!