Carfax Tower is considered to be the centre of Oxford. It is about 15 minutes walk from my house, and I go there frequently, especially since Paul's Bakery opened opposite! Today I met my friend Anne there. We had planned to go for a walk in Christ Church Meadow which is further down the road, but it was so overcast and gloomy we feared rain might surprise us in the meadow, where there is little cover, so we meandered around town for a while instead. I think this is quite a nice part of Oxford, and there were fewer tourists than usual on a Saturday morning, so I snapped these photos.
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| Walking towards Carfax from the outskirts of town - in the distance is the tower of the university church |
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| Opposite the tower, closer by |
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| Next to the tower - there used to be a shop selling homemade soaps and lotion, now sadly defunct |
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| Opposite the tower under an arch. When my Dad taught me photography he impressed upon me to try to frame a picture, so I still do it whenever I can. |
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| The tower |
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| Opposite the tower - a Pret a Manger and a bank |
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| The tower has little people who strike the hour! |
On the way home I noticed two gardening remarkables!
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| This is a big buddlea growing through and under a garden wall |
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| The other side of the wall - can't see the buddlea, gone underground |
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| This is an ivy hedge. As far as investigation showed there was no other plant, just the ivy, on all sides. Ivy is too floppy to grow like that. I suspect there is some kind of other hedge underneath, now strangled to death by the ivy, that provides the structure. I spent ten minutes discussing this with a tramp and his dog before finally going home, reluctantly leaving this riddle unsolved. |
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| The hedge from one side |
