Oxford, Paris, and other things

 I write this blog post on the bus to Oxford. The one for Wantage was taking too long to arrive. Not much to report today either. I went to work, I arrived late coz traffic was bad in Wantage - a first. I worked. Noone turned up apart from a lovely colleague. I went to the gym and was courageous afterwards to take a shower there (normally I take the bus hot and bothered to enjoy a shower at home) helped by the thought of trying a new soap... Me and my soaps... I didn't like it by the way so will purchase a new one later. I forced myself to fast walk all the way to the centre of Abingdon. It's not difficult when the weather is so nice. On the X2 now an express bus between Abingdon and Oxford. Miss the way through the woods though... That was so lovely! I must go back to some reading for my course. Speak tomorrow!

 After work, it is a busy week as many students need to finish an essay so I get last minute questions, at the last minute, which means I tend to miss my bus, or the gym, or both. There's only one bus per hour for where I live... the south of Oxfordshire, the backwaters, said a friend. Ah! It's not that bad. But yes, nothing to do with the sophistication of Oxford. I don't care, it was cheaper to buy here, the birth place of Alfred the Great, first king of England or what it still called Wessex at the time? Not sure. Will this be the crappest 50aday I will have written? Perhaps.  Surely. Sorry!

 Not sure what to put in there today. The sun is shining so I will go out soon. I finished catching up "revising" my Stranger Things. Ready for the new batch of series. I did some cutting in the garden, with a bit of luck normal television would resume but no. I switched off everything and now Netflix has disappeared as well. I don't have that password. Oh well, there was BBC player and that's it. I continued watching the AIDS programme. But sorry, as I said, the sun is shining and I should go out soon.  K. is back from Cambridge earlier but I am nevertheless seeing J. this afternoon, we're going for a walk. So I need walking shoes. I have some battered old sport shoes with holes in my flat in Wantage and some of K's shoes but nothing here in Oxford. To help with my health (no big deal but I won't say here as I don't want to be inundated with ads in the netsphere) I have downloaded the NHS Better Health Active 10 app . It records your walks everyday, e...

 Today not much so far really... I was supposed to meet friends in the morning but it was cancelled due to British weather... in fact it didn't rain, but then too late to meet. Then maybe lunch with a friend, postponed till tonight. So I vegged in front of the television (and yes a bit of reading in bed too... but that self-help book is annoying me already... like the few I've read, they really develop their idea so that it makes a book). Rewatched Stranger Things third series then told by K. to get off Netflix as they want to watch the last series. So I went to BBC player (the television is not working, only BBC player and Netflix, and perhaps AllFour is K. could remember their password) and I am now watching Aids: the unheard tapes.  Not quite a relaxing fell-good watch but I wanted to see a documentary after so many hours spent in fantasyland... but important to watch I feel. People today are scared of COVID, and yes they should be, but it seems they don't remember AIDS....

 It's called Atomic Habits by James Clear. I don't normally buy self-help books but here it is. I was looking for second-hand books on linguistics for my MA course but couldn't find much. Long gone are the days where you could find many decent second-hand bookshops in Oxford... I remember, there used to be one in Park End Street, a paradise on several floors, and one on the High, a long corridor full of treasures, now replaced by pseudo-ancient English sweets. Oh well... that guy sits in front of me while I was waiting for the bus, and said this book was good, he said, you need to think small and not think you are a writer (not sure why he gave that example), think 50 words a day... so can I do 50 words a day right now? I could do a mini-diary, a la Pepys, not for 10 years though... till October, when I will at last be able to write more creatively. I have nothing against my MA in English but frankly I'm a bit fed up now with writing academically... it's not for me....