mash and peas 27.07.2006

ah rhis weekend kicked off on friday,since the office that i push paper forgave us the day off.last week was an absolute killer.i grafted the wholeweekend and into the weee hours of the morning like an absolute mine shaft worker.i managed to endure such hardship, all with my trusty can of heinzbeans with the pull off lids.hmm beans.the wednesday of that weekend saw me and my trusty sidekick or rathercomputer neighbour catch a taxi from work at round 2am. so i decided to converse with ivan the driver,a true family man who lived in a neighbourhoodwhere 'everybody knows your name'. but it was a proper lag,cos he kept oncalling me 'guv'.so these days im loving the word 'guv'.ivan the driver managed to get into some serious architectural discussion which was ratherinteresting coming from a driver.he even led me to type the word 'cocks andsomething or other' in google inorder to determine the style of their(cocks) work. he dropped me off only after giving me an intinerary of buildingswhich he deems superb.one weekend ill be off checkin them out.the dude threwin a short tour of a man-munching serial killer by the name of Manson.apparently after the neighbours reported a horrid stench from thisguys house,the coppers found fingers in the drains where this upstandingcitizen resides. anyhoo the driver probably screwed me out of loot by driving past this little piece of history and by babbling on a lot.but hey iwasnt paying..he he.satyrday was an alright sorta day,caught the springboks making biltong outof the aussies and the eve was spent on a boat, a stationary boat on the Thames.but this was one of those parties whereby you try consume as muchbooze as your pocket allows in order to have fun,but to no avail.ah sweet mary jane,the day that i was most lookign forward to had finally reared its little turtle head.i was heading off to oxford,the nearest old city to london. what aripper,the day kicked off blazing down with rain,but i feared not and woreshorts. my once lecturer, mentor and fellow austinpowers fan, jono picked me up and for free range omelettes and burgers and a wee bit of culture we didgo.ooh how i love fat chips.theres a library, a round one called the boleian, and bicycles, gazilionsof them.you see oxford is a university and connected to the varsity are many a college,quiet similar to frat houses in america i can imagine. thesecolleges look after the students needs like tutoring,food ,thelord,tranquility,opportunities to hand feed baby deer,to drink,to row andother such thiings. one of the colleges we visited was mordelen (i think thats itprononuciation). its actually written as magadalene, but the educated folkprononuce it Mordelen,and should you pronounce it in any other way thenyoure considered an absolute heathen, a horror, an uncouth, hairy backedsavage.wow the lawns of each of the colleges were immaculately kept,i happened tosimply cross a stretch of lawn when jono shouted 'dude get the hell off that grass',and i was like 'whatever' and he was like'i aint shi*tin youboy'. he then led me to the halls where the students do their munching,theseuber long narrow halls are complete with uber long rows of tables,with little lamps at wee intervals,and wood panelled walls,and at the head of theeating hall sits a little step onto which the professors perch (probablyensuring that the lads eat their peas).i havent jumped on the harry potter band wagon but i reckon this is exactly out of a harry potter scenario.from day one i always thought the beer here was absolutely shyte,i wasdrinking fosters and carling,and then jono took me to this little pub,the ceiling was so low i had to stoop, then he ordered me a proper beer,whichwas fruity,bitter and hit me for six,so now ive become a little morediscerning in my choice of ales.anyhoo my far flung friendskeep it realthe dan