Out in the Country with Brian!

 Hello!


Well, we are now in rural merry old England!  We arrived on the afternoon of September 3rd thanks to Yasmin!  I cannot say thank you enough to her for the generosity and kindness she has shown us!  Yasmin, you truly are a wonderful person!  



With Yasmin chauffeuring us we were able to stock up on groceries before leaving Tooting saving us carting it all by bus later!  Poor Munchie was kind of squeezed into the back seat with all the goods! 






Upon our arrival at Lilliput (the name of the Brian's house in Standlake) we met Brian himself!  Displaying typical feline indifference, he allowed us to give him a little pet and scratch, he then he sort of ignored us, although his loud purring and maintaining a close proximity told me that he appreciated our company!


Our garden (back yard for you Canadians) has an abundance of fruit bearing vegetation which we are taking advantage of!









Our first week here in Standlake has been a wonderful contrast to Tooting.  Where Tooting was always a-buzz, always "awake", Standlake is slow and quiet!  We did love our experience in a busy urban environment, but I must say, I find the rural, slower paced lifestyle to be my preference!  Fortunately for me, my darling bride is of the same opinion!   


The village of Standlake is a 15 minute stroll away.  There is one shop that is also the post office.  The shop stocks enough to fill the gaps between trips to the closest larger town, Witney. A 15 minute bus ride gets us to the Lidl for serious grocery shopping, 25 minutes on the bus takes us right into the centre of town.   




The village also has the Black Horse!  A "proper village pub" as described on its web site!  We are booked for Sunday special.  I'll let you know how that goes in my next post! 


I've done a bit of exploring.  The other morning I was up early so I went up to the Devil's Quoits! A nice 9.5 km round-trip trek.  Although this henge is fairly humble when compared to the world famous one, it is still very cool when you are standing among its stones!  





We also took the bus over to Oxford and did a guided walking tour around the famous University of Oxford.  Our tour guide did a good job and provided an abundance of info and fun facts about the place.  We are not big Harry Porter fans but soon learned that the University is definitely benefiting from its association with the HP hype! 


There is a tree that was used in a scene that costs you £12 to go see!  If you are a HP fan, they say you'll know about the tree!  I told our tour group I'd show them a "special" tree and it would only cost them £6!  I didn't get any takers!  








I did enjoy seeing the Turf Tavern, a place for "an education in intoxication"!  










This is the place US President, Bill Clinton, tried marijuana (and didn't inhale)!  Apparently its also the place where the former PM of Australia, Bob Hawke, got into the Guinness Book of World Records for downing a yard of ale in 1963!  An Aussie setting a record in beer drinking?  Go figure!






We met some of our neighbours as well!  While we were out for a walk we met Autumn and her brother, Reilly.  A couple of polite and respectful young teens.  The result of our meeting, Munchie made them cookies they picked up after school!  

Look for another post next week!  Cheers to all!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tooting!

Image
  Hello there! It’s been a while since my last “blog”!  In my Barbdos 2024 blog I left you with our intended plan to spend more time in Barbados.  Well we pulled the trigger and now spend most of the winter on the Island of Barbados!  After our first winter (2024/25), we spent the summer back in Canada.  We hit the 3 western Provinces seeing family and friends!  We took a crack at house sitting also, for Brenda’s former boss, and now dear friend Alfie!  That was a very busy summer for us.   We had first heard about house/pet sitting about 20 years ago from friends of my eldest brother, Geoff.  His friends had been doing it for a number years then already and had been all over the globe!  That contact planted the seed and Munchie and I have talked about it off and on over the years.  So, this spring (2026) when we were back to Alberta for 6 weeks, we took the plunge, joined a house/pet sitter group ( TrustedHousesitters ) and b...
Read more

Tooting - Part III

Image
  Hello there! We have pretty much established a routine now!  My day starts at between 5:30am and 6am!  As soon as I stir, Cornelius wakes and comes over for me to give him a morning scratch and pet!  He usually sleeps in our bedroom either on his own bed or on the floor beside me or beside Munchie ( and occasionally he will hop up on the bed!)  That is my signal to get up and head out for CBT (Cornelius’ Ball Time)!  He sticks to me like glue as I get geared up for our trek, water bottle, collapsible water dish, ball, ball launcher and small towel.  I have commandeered a sack of Gabe’s to transport the gear!  Once packed, Cornie and I head off to the Commons.  Once there it's ball time!  Cornie gets his workout and we head home.  Back home he gets breakfast and I head back out for my own bit of exercise back at the Commons.   Upon my return, Munchie is up, has the coffee ready to go and has usually attended to the domest...
Read more

More of Tooting!

Image
  Hello! We have been relatively “busy” since my last post and we find ourselves asking, “where did the time go!”.  Munchie has taken on the task of attempting to keep track of our comings, goings, visits, and everything else we do!  I am starting to become a believer in the theory that as you get up in age, you may experience memory challenges!  Thank heavens for the date stamps on photos!   Cornelius has been getting his morning work outs!  He is very good off leash at the Commons.  He doesn’t venture far when he knows I have his ball!  I have to hide it to get him to take a break and rest!  I get out most days after Cornies’ walk and have increased my route to about 8km.  There was a very odd looking tree along my route through the Commons that I had to take a pic of!  It looks like it could come alive and reach for you like in a fantasy movie or something!   When I get back, we have our coffee and breakfast (I’ve h...
Read more