October

Monday 1 was Jay’s first day at Oxford. We arrived shortly before eleven to deliver her and her belongings to the college – quite a long trek, her room being at the back. It took a couple of hours to make the necessary initial calls to register etc, and Teresa did splendidly to get the lap-top on-line first time of asking.

The first week was ‘Freshers’ Week’. Michaelmas Term proper started the following week, and as a scientist Jay would have quite a full programme of tutorials, lectures and lab work.

We visited her on Sunday 7, taking a few extras and having a couple of hours for shopping and lunch in the centre of Oxford; on the way back to LMH we walked past Keble, Roger’s old college.

The main quad at LMH Roger and Jay in Cornmarket Roger outside Keble

In Jay’s absence, Teresa nobly undertook to visit Clyde nearly every day to feed him his apples, and, from time to time, to walk him, rug him, feed him or whatever else Jay felt was required. We also cleaned out the horsebox for a prospective sale, though the interested party from earlier in the year subsequently found something suitable elsewhere. Horatio was advertised locally, and given a short run occasionally to keep it in trim.

Roger helping to clean out the horsebox

Jay also visited us a couple of times herself, probably mainly to see Clyde, but also to wash piles of clothes and stock up on food. Teresa visited Jay in Oxford one weekend.

Roger continued to play indoor bowls at Malvern and Littleton. Overbury’s green is, of course, closed for the winter, but some activity goes on: Roger is the honorary auditor of the club accounts, which needed to be done in October in time for the AGM in November. There was also a quiz night on Friday 19, with a successful outcome for our team, following which we agreed to run the next one in January.

Teresa has been very active in the kitchen, particularly taking advantage of the many fruits available locally at this time of year – blackberries and damsons from the bushes in the nearby lane, and apples, mainly from kind neighbours. The jam shelf is beginning to look quite full.

Some of Teresa’s excellent home-made jams

I realised one bright afternoon that from a back window we could see the polythene covered tower of Toddington Manor as it caught the sun. This is part of the work being undertaken by the new owner, artist Damien Hirst, to restore the building. It will take another three or four years, apparently, before it can be used for art exhibitions.

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