Wedding bells and Oxford smells

No it doesn't, it just rhymes well with bells.

However, I have already noted that Oxford is home to some of the slowest moving elderly ladies and gentlemen I have ever encountered. What is slower than very slow shuffling? That is 10 times faster than whatever they are doing.

Last Friday 23 September saw me trek from London to Dunkeld, Scotland for the wedding of two good friends of mine, both English doctors who studied and now practise medicine in Edinburgh. It started with a train, then a plane, then a car and then a train and then a car but I made it and it was worth it because I had a great weekend.

I was greeted by Joy McLoughlin, a relative of my mother, at Edinburgh airport and she took me to lunch at a restaurant overlooking the Firth of the Forth. Try to say that five times really quickly! Go on. Do it, do it.

From there I caught the train to Dunkeld which is in pictureque Perthshire. Dunkeld is a very pretty town with an ancient Cathedral on the banks of the River Tay and so it is a popular wedding and conference destination. Sadly neither my photos of Joy or Dunkeld would upload on this site. You will just have to take my word that it really happened.

On Friday night, I and about thirty other young guests were treated to dinner by the bride and groom at Newmiln House, a stately home where the Bride's family were staying during the wedding weekend. The night started well for Niamh's sister Kora who left the hand brake off her friends Mercedes which then slipped down a steep hill crashing through a tennis court fence.

It needed to be dragged out by a farm tractor. I sat next to the owner of the Mercedes during dinner and it turned out it was not her car but her bosses car. The damage to the car was minimal, the damage to the fence was extensive, however it did not seem to bother anyone (perhaps Mr Stone was concerned) and it was quite a memorable start to the wedding celebrations. I think I said to Mrs Stone (Niamh's Mum) on meeting her for the first time how exciting the car through the fence looked to which she replied "No, it is not". It was a surreal moment.

The wedding day was a beautiful sunny one and I sat in the sun by the banks of the river for as long as I could before I had to get ready for the wedding. It all went very quickly. Niamh and Andy were married in the private chapel on the Murthly Estate. Technically it was called The Chapel of St Anthony the Eremite but for some strange reason I kept calling it St Anthony the Excrement. Freudian slip.

There were drinks in the grounds of the Castle as the sun began to set we all piled into a large Marquet also in the Castle grounds. I had a brilliant time at the wedding and was made to feel very welcome by both the Stone (Niamh) and Lucking (Andy) family and their friends. I was seated at a special table and they even left a bottle of Bundy Rum at my table seating which was quickly consumed after the dinner was over and the dancing had begun. Much to my irritation none of the photos I have of the wedding will upload to this site.

It was a late finish and an early start on Sunday morning as the very nice B&B owners from "The Pend" in Dunkeld drove me all the way to Perth to catch a train back to Edinburgh. They had in fact driven me to all my engagements from the minute I moved into their B&B such was their high level service and did not ask for any money in return. Peter even lent me his cuff links as I had forgotten mine. If ever you are in Dunkeld, stay with Peter and Marina Braney at the Pend on 5 Brae Street, as they and their lovely West Highland Terriers Molly and Bridie will make you feel right at home.

The only thing I can recall about the train journey to Edinburgh was being forced to sit next to a bunch of teenage D&D players who would not shut up about wizards, monsters and things called Fire Penguins. Apparently you can be turned into one if you pick a bad card from the deck. Footnote 1. I will encourage my children to follow any of their interests in life, with the exception of Dungeons & Dragons, it is without question the most obvious form of social suicide known to man.

Sunday afternoon I arrived back at Phil's in Clapham and took advantage of the great weather to go for a run on the Common to test out my dodgy hamstring. I took it nice and slow but it seemed to go pretty well. The next morning I packed my gear after shouting my host a quick coffee, who I hope to see in Chamonix over the winter, I headed into Victoria Station to bus it up to Oxford.

My first tentative steps in my new home in Oxford involved reporting to the lodge at St Peter's College to collect a key to my house and room. I was met by a very nice Porter (traditional title for the blokes who man the reception desks in Oxford colleges) called Paul who was straight out of the Front Row Forward Factory (if only Australia could produce as many 20 stone gorrillas at the UK, the Wallabies would be sitting pretty). He immediately liked the fact that I was from Australia and I play rugby. My first new friend.

I then made my way to my new home in 33 St Margaret's Road, North Oxford. On arrival I was pleased to discover that the room I had been assigned was massive with large windows. I was surprised to see how small the bed was by comparion. It was something out of that wacky out of scale room in Alice in Wonderland. You know, you keep walking towards the bed and it gets smaller and smaller and eventually you can pick it up in and place it on the palm of your hand.

You may wonder why I would mention Alice in Wonderland but it is probably because the Eagle and Child, famous watering hole of Tolkien and Carroll is relatively close to where I live and I had pints there last night.

Anyway, I won't go it to too much more detail about what I have done in the 3.5 days since I have been in Oxford but it has involved loads of walking around trying to get stuff done. I now have some pretty decent blisters on my feet and so a bike may become a necessary mode of transport afterall. Needles to say I have had two out of my three evening meals so far at the Bear just so I can feel more at home in this place.

That is about it from me for the time being. I am slowly relaxing in my new surrounds and getting to know my housemates (14 in total including Britons, Russians, Italians, Americans, etc) before moving more into the business school scene with the first organised activity on Saturday afternoon. It will all then become very busy with a stream of both College and Business School induction events next week and so I will update this site again once they are all finished.