Quotidian Oxford

Interesting pieces about my life here in Oxford. I'll be keeping this one updated as I learn more and more about my fascinating city (and surrounding country). 

1. Oxford Time: Oxford is situated west of the Greenwich Meridian by 5 minutes. Many of the bells, and some professors, set their timetables by this fact. Although this causes the chimes to ring at 5 past it is not recommended to assume that lectures will begin similarly. 

2. The Pasty: Pronounced 'pass-tee.' Warm goodness wrapped in a flaky dough that seems light but is really rather sturdy and filling. There is a cheap shop right across from our offices that almost always has a line and is already frequented by our students. I had my first one, a delightful mushroom/onion/cheese mixture, on Tuesday. I will definitely be going there again. And again. 

3. Flapjacks: Not at all what an American would automatically think of but my absolute new favorite thing in the entire world of . . . dessert. Flapjacks are little bars of oatmeal, butter, sugar, etc. and can masquerade almost as a granola bar but with very little pretense as to actually be healthy for you. My goal for the year is to come back to the states with a perfected recipe. (Right now the trial count is 5, of which I cannot rightfully take credit, as Jonathan did all the work while I wrote my papers. But it was my idea.)

4. The Fire Alarm: If the fire alarm in Crick does not go off at least once a week, then the world has turned upside down and hell frozen over. The detector in the kitchen is not for smoke, but heat. And it is positioned at the top of the very high ceiling, where all the heat collects. So when you have a large number of people collecting in the kitchen to hang out and some of those people are cooking, the chances of the kitchen "overheating" are very large. This is not even including the various shortages the number of appliances we have plugged in, which has been the reason for two or three of the alarm episodes. It has, in fact, gotten to the point that when the alarm sounds, nothing happens. People stay put exactly where they are just sigh or complain about the noise, knowing that someone will be turning the alarm off presently.