Jay Gillette

Trout Pub

Just back tonight from a research foray to the Trout Pub, on the banks of the Thames above Oxford. A student from Indiana suggested I give it a try. Great pub with reasonable food, and prices that are OK by current UK-USA currency standards. Great dinner of Welsh lamb cost about eight pounds, (8 GBP), about 16 dollars.

The ambiance of the place is what is fine--the pub has indoor tables, but the outdoor patio overlooking the river is worth the price of admission. There are peacocks wandering around, and some proprietary ducks who all beg for handouts. There are signs warning against feeding the peacocks. The staff feeds them from a little bowl of sugar. The worker doing it said, "Don't worry, we don't use the same bowl for the customers . . ."

The British say the classic British pub is fading away. Try the Trout. It's still going strong.

Cheers.
JEG

First Oxford Entry

Greetings from UK. this is a test entry to see if our restored weblogs are working. yet why have the Internet if you can't add knowledge value? So here's some Oxford info: the central town lies between two rivers, the Cherwell (pronounced here as "Shar-well") and the Thames, upstream from London. It is said that the Thames is called the River Isis as it passes through Oxford. I haven't heard anyone call it that in conversation, but that is Oxford information on maps and so on. The Saxons founded this town after the Romans left Britain. A history book says the Saxons relied on rivers for main transport, whereas the Romans built roads. The rivers also provided defense for the Saxons. Old central Oxford had rivers on three sides. There was said to be a low point across the Thames where oxen could actually ford the river. The city's coat of arms today depicts an ox above three wavy blues lines indicating the river ford. Cheers, as they say here. JEG