Oxford Canal
2 pies, 8 bags of shopping.
In which the Duck and her crew discover the delights of the Day Off.
There's two kinds of lie-in; first, there's the "I'm REALLY tired and can't get out of bed even though I should" type. Then there's the "We've got nothing to do today, hoorah!" kind of lie-in.
Of the two, the latter is clearly preferable.
We awoke late and visited Oxford city centre; there were a few things we needed to do, such as wrangling with NatWest (again...), and buying provisions, plus doing the tourist thing. We visted the covered market, and had fantastic pies for lunch, eaten on the steps of the Bodleian library (I have to admit, it's a LOT nicer than the University Library in Cambridge...) before having fresh crepes. Lovely, and not too expensive either!
We had meant to do the tourist thing and see the dreaming spires, but unfortunately it started to rain- no, to sluice down in stair-rods. We returned to the boat, absolutely soaked, and lit the stove to dry off- and the sun, predictably, came out as soon as we did! It did start raining again later, though, and so the stove came in useful to keep the boat warm. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the sofa, lounging and reading books- I, "the Shipping News" by E. Annie Proulx, which is fantastic, and Amy, "East of the Mountains" by David Guterson.
We met Charlotte in her car, and headed over to her house in the Cowley area for a reciprocal dinner; pizza, this time. Afterwards, we headed to the big Tesco Extra at Blackbird Leys in her car, and frugally provisioned the store cupboards and fridge.
I was a bit worried about being untied in the night, so I put the ground anchor in at the bow. A four-foot long iron spike, with the rope threaded through the loop in the top, it took a lot of effort to get it in and is impossible to remove without levering with another mooring spike; we slept feeling far safer and more secure than the previous night.
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