You may have heard that parts of Oxford are experiencing flooding right now after very heavy rainfall in the past week or so.
Just to let you know, I live on the second floor of an apartment block at least 5 or 6 metres above the ground and although the flats are right next to the canal, we've not been affected. The canal looks pretty normal actually, from what I can see. The bigger problem is the Thames River which runs to the west (the other side) of the canal to where my flat is.
There's a chance that an electrical substation that is potentially the one that supplies my flat and is in the flood zone could be knocked out overnight, which may affect me...however the risk is still pretty small.
I do have some friends who are on the ground floor in the flood zone and the water is lapping against their doors...so I hope they get through OK.
Bicycles of Oxford - Memorial. Posted to Flickr by Platform 3. Originally posted by Brown Rice and reposted with permission.
Here is a photo of the "ghost bike" that is parked at the corner of Broad St and Parks Rd that is a memorial for Tsz Fok who was killed on this spot by a left turning garbage truck in April, as I mentioned here. RIP.
I think the bike was prepared by the Oxford Cycle Workshop, a very worthy bike shop. Their myspace page is here.
"Where it all happens apparently. Unless you're a Uni student straight out of public school in which case it's where all the scary drug pushers, muggers and lefty bohemians hang out. A myth we're more than happy to perpetuate to keep bastards out." Nightshift Magazine as quoted in Wikipedia
Even as I type, The Zodiac on Cowley Road, here in Oxford is in the throes of its final night. I've mentioned this band/club venue several times on this blog and I've spent many other nights there that have gone un-catalogued.
The venue is going to undergo a 4 month, £2 million (or 3 million depending on which website you read) refurbishment and will reopen as the Carling™ Academy Oxford. The Zodiac name will survive as the name of the middle-sized of the three new venues within the new Entertainment Palace.
Those of you unfamiliar with The Zodiac may experience a glimmer of recognition if I say that the video for Radiohead's song, Creep from their 1993 album Pablo Honey was shot on the stage of the Zodiac (although I'm informed that back then The Zodiac was called The Venue). In fact, it's the very stage that you can see in the vid I took last Friday of The Destroyers, as blogged in the post directly before this one. Anyhow, there's more history on Wikipedia, if you care.
Once again, the magic of YouTube means that you can see Radiohead's Zodiac video below...
I'm reasonably ambivalent about the Zodiac sell-out. The venue will benefit from a good refit, hopefully with an improved PA (although the current one isn't too bad) and facilities. There will be an extra space (bar) to add to the 2 existing performance spaces and there may well be a boost in the touring bands who play in Oxford.
On the other hand, I hope that this doesn't mean that smaller bands such as my friends Stornoway and acts such as Sol Samba now won't get a look-in. I also hope that the new management won't suddenly feel the need to introduce character killing "security" measures (such as bag searches for "contraband" water bottles) in order to accelerate the Return on their £2m Investment by "protecting" sales of Carling. Likewise, I hope the ticket prices don't go up too much either.
That may be wishful thinking but we will see. The next time I'm there is likely to be The Decemberists in October. I'll let you know what it's like.
This morning's cycle to work was somewhat a "bummer". My arse got a bit soggy because I forgot to clip my butt spray protector onto the pushie before setting out.
On the way back from work, I saw a lady laying on the opposite site of the road who had come off her bike. She was being attended to by some passersby, so I hope she was OK. My guess is she lost it on the slightly damp road...although the bitumen wasn't that wet, so maybe there was some oil or the naughty bike lane white line paint tripped her up?
Anyhow, the early evening turned out to be quite nice. So after dropping Kate at the train station (she's in London to see her bro and for business), I saddled up on Theodore the Fixie and meandered through central Oxford.
I do like cycling through the old bits of town. The Radcliffe Camera was finished in 1749 and the vaults of the church where the photo was taken from is one of the first places where lectures were delivered as early as the 11th century!!
After visiting Radcliffe Square, I paid my respects at the corner of Broad St and Parks Road where Tsz Fok died last week before heading back towards home up the broad and lovely avenue, St Giles.
I grabbed a bite to eat at Manos, a Greek deli near my place and felt good about the world.
News that a cyclist got killed by a truck today in Oxford made me want to remind you to be extremely careful when passing Lorries/Trucks/HGVs/buses on the left hand side. Be careful!!!
Bill Chidley, London messenger "identity" (if that's the right word) fakenger and vociferous HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) safety agitator talks about the issues on the Moving Target 'zine blog.
Also, if anyone in Oxford wants to be put in touch with a qualified cycle instructor, let me know as one of my work colleagues is one.
My other cycling safety tip of the day...don't send text messages while cycling!
Cycling...still infinitely better than being a cager!
Broad Street in Oxford was bathed with fire last night and tonight (and tomorrow night too) to help celebrate Oxford's Millenium. I went and took some pix. There was a lot of photographygoing on.
It was a very social occassion too because even though I didn't really make firm plans to meet anyone there, I eneded up running into tons of people. All the cars were cleared out of the wide, broad (ahem) street and lots of braziers, flame pots, small furnaces with chimneys and a big flame chandelier were installed.
Kate took the above photo of Joe Bennett at The Zodiac watching Goldrush, a band from Steventon in Oxfordshire.
Soon after we met, Kate intro'd me to the sounds of Goldrush and since then, I think we've seen them play maybe ten times, or maybe even more. They aren't my favourite of all time but they have their moments.
They are also the driving force behind Truck Festival and we had an enjoyable time there in 2003.
Goldrush have a new album coming out soon and the played many of them tonight. The song Everyone of Us is embedded below and is freely available for download from the Goldrush download page
The other tracks on this record can be streamed from Goldrush's Releases page. Should you like their sound, watch out for the links on that page to download sites where you can buy their stuff.
