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Café con Lechery
It's that time of year again when I start using up my annual leave allowance, which is almost always spent lounging around in Oxford parks and cafés because I lack imagination, money, and sufficient gumption to get out and do something less boring instead. This year, my first five days of leave coincided with the wettest May since 1983. →
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Café Culture
When spending a significant amount of time in a town or city, there are two things I like to be sure of; one is where I can get a decent cup of coffee in nice surroundings, and the other is where I can go to the toilet. I'm about to write about the former, because an article about the latter would just list 'Debenhams; by the Covered Market; underneath Magdalen Bridge', and wouldn't be much of a read. →
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Taste the Difference
If you live in Oxford then you probably shop at Tesco. This is not a social comment, it's just that with a Tesco Metro serving the whole of East Oxford and a large out-of-town Tesco serving the rest, you're not left with much choice in the matter. While there are other options --- Marks & Spencers for the disgustingly wealthy, a miniscule Co-Op for the smelly hippies and two blink-and-you'll-miss them (yet horrifically busy) Sainsburys in the middle of the town centre, Tesco is where most Oxford residents will find themselves, time and again. →
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The Mao of Harry Potter
This weekend was nice in that it didn't exist. It crept up on me as I suspected that it was the weekend of the 23rd, so I was fairly pleased when I discovered that a weekend of the 16th even existed. It was a free weekend, one that I hadn't planned or budgeted for. →
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The Big Bang
Although Oxford has pubs and shops and restaurants in abundance, like most English towns it's overwhelmed by chains. Though a certain amount of snobbery has kept the likes of Woolworths and Wilkinsons away from the centre and safely tucked away in the surrounding smaller towns, the central retail areas still lean dangerously close to generic. →