Oxford and Cambridge boat race

The 155th Boat Race, held between Cambridge and Oxford Universities, took place way back in March. It didn't start off as an annual event, but quickly became one as the rivalry grew. It's a very 'British' event, so naturally was on the list of things to see and do whilst in the UK.

As usual, Tamara did the research into it and came to the conclusion that it would be a good idea to do a lunch cruise and to view the race from the Thames itself, rather than on a crowded bank or pub. We went through the usual travel rigmarole, this time involving me being at the meeting place first (a rarity, given that with Tamara taking the tube and me on the overland, it's usually me delayed), and then hot-footed it over to Festival Pier to jump on the boat. We somehow scored a table upstairs at the window, and enjoyed the first part of our cruise down towards St Paul's Cathedral. We reached there and then turned around, cruising past such icons as the Globe Theatre, Battersea Power Station and Fulham FC. Not that Fulham FC is an icon to me, or to most people in the world, but I know that it's considered to be one to a lot of people in the UK. But I digress.

We had lunch whilst cruising towards the finish line for the race, where we were to anchor to await the race itself. The banks all along the river from the starting point of the race were crammed with people, and we were thankful to not be part of it all. There were helicopters everywhere, along with television crews, and there we were, perched merrily in prime position without anyone impeding our view. It was awesome.

Eventually the first race started. We weren't entirely sure of what to expect, in that we didn't really know much about the history of it all or the other races taking place. We were pretty happy just to be there really. I got a few photos of that one, and then came the main event. There was a sweepstake on the boat, which we entered, trying to guess the correct time of the race. Tamara and I also had our own bet, not that I've cashed it up yet, but it was in the spirit of things!

In the end, Oxford won, to our mutual disappointment. We'd decided that we wanted Cambridge to win, because having visited both cities, we liked Cambridge more than Oxford. In the end this brought the historic score to 79-75 in Cambridge's favour.

After the race we waited around for a while to get the official time, so that we could settle the sweepstake. We then cruised up to Kew, and got off there, as it would have been a very late night had we waited for the tide to go out to allow us to go back to Festival Pier. All in all, another good day out in London.

The Cambridge shed. The Oxford shed was about 20m away.

Security for the teams.



Separate bars...


More security, this time the transport police.

Part of the first race.

Incoming!

The Cambridge crew.
The Oxford crew.

The media contingent that followed the race.

The Oxford cox about to be thrown into the water, as tradition dictates for the winning team.

The clearest picture I got of the cup. We were still across the river at this stage.

Oops!

So much for my plan to not let too much time go by before writing updates. Ah well. Here goes!

Phew!

It's official, the blog is updated. It's taken me several hours today to do that, and it'll need updating again after next Sunday - the Oxford and Cambridge boat race is on, and we're going to see it! I've got a couple of trips planned after that, but at least I'm caught up for now. Now I just need to remember to not let it go so long before I write the updates. Anywho, for those few who read it, enjoy!

Cambridge

Last weekend we decided not to go to London, but to go for a bit of a road trip to Cambridge. We had two plans actually - if it was bad weather we were going to Freeport, Braintree to do some shopping at the outlet shops; good weather would be Cambridge. Thankfully, it was a beautiful day.

I picked Tamara up and we headed up the motorway. There was no way I could have gotten a photo of them, but there was a big group of deer in one of the fields that we went past. That was exciting on its own! We found our way to Cambridge, and did a quick drive around before parking. The main thing that we wanted to do there was to go punting, but we wanted to look around as well.


We set off towards the main streets, and found some markets to look through along the way. Then, after a quick stop at Paperchase for Tamara, we decided to head towards the river. In the end, we were approached by someone offering punting tours on the River Cam (legit tours, not just some random guy), and we decided to give that a go. It was so much fun! Granted, it would have been better without being jammed in with so many other people, but it was gorgeous. The trip took us past many of the colleges, including Trinity College and Queens' College, and our guide provided a little history for us. He also told us a lot about the bridges, including the Mathematical Bridge (the wooden one), the Bridge of Sighs and the Clare College Bridge, with a section missing from one of the globes on the top of it.



Cambridge had plenty of daffodils and crocuses to keep us occupied with taking photos of flowers. This is just a couple of them!



After we got off the punt, we wandered around the town, before having lunch at our old standard, a Wetherspoons pub. We were at the wrong end of town from where it was, decided we wanted a burger and beer combo (or J20 for me), and walked all the way back from where we'd come from, only to then decide to have a roast - after walking past pub after pub offering a Sunday roast. Well played!

After lunch we headed back to the car, to head back home. Along the way though, we decided to go to Colchester. Tamara had been to the zoo there, and that's still on my list of places to go, but neither of us had actually been to the town itself. It was late on the Sunday afternoon, but we thought we'd have a quick look and see if there was anything we wanted to go back for. Turned out to be a good plan - it was just like every other town, and there was nothing remarkable to go back for. I think I probably will go back at some point, to have a better look around, as it's supposed to be the oldest town in England. I need to do a bit more research on that one - surely there's something different to see there!

And again

The next weekend it was a Sunday trip to London. I had free movie tickets to see "Marley & Me", so met up with a couple of friends for that. It was another chance for the train gods to defy me - my normal 40 minute journey to Liverpool St took nearly and hour and a half, and then there were other issues with the tubes. Honestly, for the money they charge you think you'd be able to get a decent service. Instead you get delayed or non-existant trains, trains that stop at the station but that won't let people on, trains that stop in between stations, and a constant run of tube lines suspended week after week. Oh, the joys of public transport!

But I digress. I made it to Picadilly Circus at the time when the movie was supposed to start, only to find that my friends weren't there. My first thought was that they had gone on without me, but then they came flying up the stairs a minute or two after I had. We rushed to find the actual cinema, only to discover it was the wrong one - we should have been at the other Cineworld, a whole block away! I mean, geez, who builds two cinemas of the same chain within a block of each other? Ridiculous. Luckily, despite our tickets saying no late entries, we were let in, and just missed the first few minutes of the film.

When we had gone in to the cinema, it was a nice enough day, a little overcast and on the cool side, but nothing to worry about. When we came out it was grey and windy, and quite cold. We went to lunch, and came out to pouring rain. Ahhh, bless this country! We bolted across to the National Portrait Gallery for a bit of a squiz at what they had to offer, and came out an hour or so later to bright blue skies again. Well played, weather gods! In the end, after the gallery, we went home, as one of my friends had to get back to Bristol and it was a long drive from the south east.

More tripping around

That weekend kickstarted what was to be a run of days out in London and elsewhere. The Saturday after I went to Portobello Road, I went to Greenwich. I had been meaning to go there for quite some time, and figured that I might as well do it then.

I went in early, as I had plans to catch up with Tamara later in the day to go to the Tate Britain. In the end though, the train gods were against me, and it took forever to get there. Eventually however I did arrive, and started the journey up the hill to the Royal Observatory. This proved a little more difficult than anticipated - I was still feeling pretty crappy from my cold, and got a coughing fit halfway up the hill and had to stop for fear of falling over and rolling all the way back down!


I got up there in the end, and took the obligatory photos of the prime meridian. I had a look around at all the telescopes and things, but to be honest, I'd seen what I came for and that was enough for me. I picked up a shot glass for my collection and a post card for my nan and pop, and started the journey back.

I had been planning on meeting Tamara at Leicester Square tube station, and even that proved more difficult than planned. Thankfully I knew my way around this area, as I had to walk from a tube station I hadn't planned on. Also thankfully, Tamara didn't mind that I was so late - she understood about the train gods!

We had lunch, once we found a GBK - Tamara had been told that they did great burgers. They were a bit disappointing really, but as with many other things we've seen and done, we've done it once as know we don't need to go back now. We then headed to the Tate Britain. I've made my feelings about art clear on this blog before, but we had decided that we should try to at least take in as much as we could. Honestly, I put up with it as long as I could before just taking the mick. We chose the Tate Britain over the Tate Modern on the basis that it should be more appealing and should simply make more sense. To some extent it did, but there was so much of it that looked like it was done by children. I mean, you can draw a rough square on a bit of paper and it's art. You can write three words on a bit of paper and it's art. There was someone's personal timeline hanging on the wall - my year 7 students did these!!!

Then there were the guides. There was one woman who I swear was the living embodiment of the English art snob. She was wandering around with a group, with that kind of high pitched snobby voice, saying things like, "This is from his Surrey period," and "This is simply vulgar!" I'm not ashamed to admit that most of my comments after this where uttered in her affected voice and with the same pronunciation of words. We got the giggles several times as well - I was a little surprised that we weren't asked to leave!

Portobello Road

By the time the half term holidays rolled around, I was seriously ready for a break. I'd been through my assessment and was waiting on the results, but didn't have any choice in how fast they would come. I'd worked myself to the point where I'd made myself sick several times, and was in desperate need of something to do besides more work. In the end though, the matter was settled for me - I came down with a hideous cold and ended up spending almost all of the week off in bed.

I was determined to spend at least one day sightseeing, and dragged my sorry butt into London on the second Saturday. It was a gorgeous day, one that hinted that Spring was, indeed, on its way. I started my day at Portobello Road markets. For the life of me I couldn't get the song from "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" out of my head! The markets are famous for their antiques, but I was more interested in just having a look around. I did pick up a couple of things there, but I can't give the details because it will give away what someone who reads this is getting for their birthday this year!




Once I'd finished with the markets (from antiques to jewellery to fruit and veg, right up to the flea market), I headed back into the West End as I was going to see "The Lion King". I'd seen it on stage before, in Sydney, but that was some years ago and I do love the film. By the time that finished, I was sick of the crowds, and headed home. I was tired and cranky, but glad that I got out of the house at least once that week!