Off to Oxford, City Bus Tourspark ride

You can take a city bus tour or park and ride and walk or all of that. So much to see in historic Oxford. Not just for academics and those who love architecture. Events which benefitted the entire world, like the discovery of penicillin.

 Oxford has a park and ride scheme, about £2.50 for the day, 16 hours, meaning you can't park overnight, cheaper than using a city car park, which is about £7, though you might risk hoping to find a street space.

Park and ride terminal building with toilets, which ran out of toilet paper at 11 a.m. but were fine at 4 p.m.

Not all buses go into the city centre. Some go back to London! We caught the 400 into Oxford. The route is not non-stop. Several stops into the city. Check your phone to find your most convenient stop.

Saturday 15 August 2026 the city was abuzz with people and busy cafés. Historic buildings of every era. Little nooky places in narrow pedestrian side streets selling souvenirs. 

Hop on hop off City Sightseeing bus Oxford. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Then huge impressive buildings with giant columns. The colleges with famous names.

-ends-

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Green Beer Day In the USA and Green Theme Decor, Drinks and Food

Green beer, USA.

I was looking for photos of green beer, when  discovered that in Miami, Ohio, USA, they have had a green beer day. Yes, it was inspired by St Patrick's Day. With the Spring break dates and St Patrick's Day moving around so that they no longer coincided, somebody came up with the idea of having a green beer day during the spring break. So then, you had two green beer days, St Patrick's Day and the Green Beer day.  

My friend in Singapore enthused about green beer. However, when I read that it turned your tongue green, I went off the idea.

What about the American Green Beer Day. It sounded like innocent fun. Plus a commercial opportunity for selling green clothes. Plus, of course, beer. However, starting at 5 am, under age driving, and an alcohol related death. No way. No wonder there was official concern and interference.

Meanwhile, if you want to wear green and try out green beer at home, on St Patrick's Day, or Green beer day, or as a practice in advance any day, with food as well as drink so you don't drive or get drunk, why not.

By the way, the event started in Miami university, which is not in Florida, but in Oxford, Ohio. (Yes, not Miami, Florida, and not Oxford, England.)

One bar was selling for one US dollar a shot (small drink or addition to a drink or cocktail) of green jello (generic US term for jelly, from the brand Jello) which turns any drink green. 

The US bars seem to have a plentiful supply of food options. What was green?

Bread and Cereals

Rice with green rice (dyed green).

Marbled green bread. 

Vegetables: 

Avocados. Avocado dip. Brussel sprouts. Celery. Cress. Cucumber salad. Pickled cucumber. Cucumber sandwiches. Lettuce. Mange tout. Mint. Green beans. Green olives. Green Pepper. Parsley. Peas. Petits Pois. Spring onions. Wasabi. Watercress.

Fruit: 

Apples. Limes. Pears. Pineapples.

Desserts and Sweets

Green cheesecake. Green macaroons. Green marzipan. Mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Decoration: White Tee shirts with the name of the bar printed in green. (North End bar, Athens, Ohio, USA.)

 Green frosting on the rim of drinking glasses. Mint leaves. Green paper umbrellas decorating cocktails.

Cocktail Ingredients:

Crown Royal Apple Canadian whisky has a green label.

Midori, a Japanese drink, is green.

Captain Morgan Apple Smash.

Melon liqueur. (Midori Melon liqueur.

Pineapple Juice.

Rhinegeist beer from Cincinatti.

Casamigos Tequila.

I have saved several recipes to my Pinterest page. on food and drink.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Beer_Day

https://www.thepostathens.cosgom/article/2022/03/green-beer-day-local-bar-owners-athens-ohio

https://www.instagram.com/northendathens/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midori_(liqueur)

Check your English in Emails And Slides - Quicks tips, Oxford, England, and Websters House

UK flag.

Copy your slides into word and check the English, then load up the correct version or correct the slides by checking the revised version.

Note that the Oxford dictionaries are from Oxford, England and give British English.


US flag.

Websters is by Webster who revised the spelling for Americans.




UK
Visit England and take a trip from London to Oxford. When the Covid-19 regulations in your home country and your destination country allow it



USA
You can see Noah Webster's portrait in the National Portrait Gallery, washignton DC, USA.

You can visit Websters house in the USA, Covid19 allowing.


Websters House

Statue of Webster, Connecticut



Useful Websites
grammarly.com

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/reset

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/

Concise Oxford dictionary, hardback, gives etymology (origin of the word)

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

I and my family have lived in the UK, Spain, the USA and Singapore. I am a travel writer and photographer and teacher of English A level and English as a foreign language.

Please come to a Toastmasters International Club where the English clubs have a language evaluator or grammarian.  We also have French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and other language clubs based in Singapore and many more online around the world which because of Covid-19 are now meeting online.

I am President of Braddell Heights Advanced, meeting every Wednesday, on zoom the first Wednesday of the month but the other Wednesdays are workshops on app 

learncool.sg

Or quicker to type and easier to remember: 

 tinyurl.com/BHACOOL

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_language_self-study_programs

https://www.facebook.com/angela.lansbury.121

https://www.facebook.com/groups/polygotcommunity

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogs

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/04/how-to-say-thank-you-in-several.html

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/05/introducing-yourself-in-english-spanish.html

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/01/second-set-of-portuguese-words.html Please share links to your favourite posts

https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club

translate.google.com

duolingo.com

Covered Walkways in Singapore Protect You From The Rain - Part of Plans For A Smart City

Covered walkways in Singapore protect you from the rain - land the sun. The idea is not entirely new. You can see quadrangles for walking along sheltering from the sun and rain in the university buildings of Oxford and Cambridge, as well as monasteries throughout Europe.

British ex-pat Raffles planned the new city of Singapore around the port and built the five-foot ways which still exist in Little India. But the latest project in Singapore is building sheltered walkways all over the island (to reduce the preference for jumping in a car at the first sight of rain. The walkways link the railway stations and schools and housing estates.

You can see from my photo how the walkway connects the bus stop with the housing estate behind. The housing estate includes a temple and the Leng Kee Community Centre.

This is something which could be copied worldwide, especially rainy places such as London, England. I drive through harrow in the car, or take the bus, and look with horror at the narrow pavements and sheer walls. Nothing pedestrian friendly.

Singapore's widely advertised plans for the Smart City of the future makes pedestrian friendly suburbs and satellite cities a priority, with greenery and covered walkways.

Singapore walkway seen from Clementi MRT railway station.

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The Cancer Research UK Boat Race 2018 – Live

Boat Race 2018 LIVE: Oxford v Cambridge - live updates - which team wears which colour?

Everything I see teaches me something. I remember once reading that if a book taught you one useful fact, reading the entire book was worthwhile. This video reminded me that the Cambridge team wears light blue. the Oford team wears dark blue.


Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phtographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Where Can You See The Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race And The Harvard-Yale Regatta - Book For The Next One

Problems
Who will win the boat race?
Where can you see it?

Answers
Where can you see it? The race takes place not in Cambridge nor Oxford but in London, from Putney to Mortlake.

? 

Map from Wikipedia.

The rowing race takes place along the Thames, and can be seen from bridges from several riverside pubs in London.

I missed it this year because my internet was down. Better be ready for next year.

Swans at St Ives, Cambridgeshire. Photo by Angela Lansbury, copyright.

This year was pretty cold - it's still freezing in London, and predicted to be equally cold next year. Not ideal for outdoors, unless you come from a cold country and have proper outdoor clothing. This means get out your ski gear. In the UK people dressed for the office think it's cold outside.

However, cold weather doesn't stop people going skiing, in Canada, or the USA, or Korea, or Italy, Or Switzerland, Or France, Or New Zealand, because they are dressed for it.

Cambridge
Why did Cambridge win? Was anybody surprised? I was not surprised. I would expect them to win. Cam bridge - the name means bridge over the river Cam. It's a beautiful city with waterways always inviting, especially in summer.

However, looking at the statistics, the result is not predictable. It's a close run thing. I see that Oxford and Cambridge have both won about 80 times since the race was started in the 1800s.

British Weather in March
This year, if I had been out at a pub, I would have spent most of the time indoors watching on the pub TV. Unfortunately, the summer weather wasn't with us this year. Snow isn't unknown in Britain in March. In 1979, when a member of my family was born, I recall looking out of a hospital window in Watford at the snow. On the other hand, on another birthday, in the 1960s, I have photos of the family in London sitting in a back garden in Edgware, Middlesex, NW London, in summery sunshine.

Three City Circuit
Think now about a holiday including London and then Cambridge for this time next year. Three places to put on your itinerary, London, Cambridge, Oxford. Meanwhile, what can you do in Cambridge in summer? You will want to see the river and the university colleges.

All three destination, London, Oxford and Cambridge, offer sport, culture and history. You could make a three-city circuit.

Old Bridge Hotel
I will tell you about Cambridge in a later post. Come back. In fact, I have already written a lot about one of my favourite waterside restaurants, The Old Bridge Hotel, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.

You can watch the men's event, the women's event or both. They take place on the same day, the women's event first.  If you don't make it to the area, the race is shown on TV. Also look at YouTube. 

In America a similar race takes place between Harvard and Yale. It is called the Regatta. Notice the doubte T. 

Where? On America's The Thames River, involving New London, Connecticut. The colours are blue for Yale and Red for Harvard. How do you remember which colour is which team? Easy. LE in both Yale and blue. RD in both Harvard and red.

UK

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-5539949/Cambridge-win-2018-Boat-Race-Oxford-dominated-gloomy-Thames.html

https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/bars/boat-race-2018-route-where-to-watch-oxford-vs-cambridge-go-headtohead-a3797986.html

https://www.visitbritain.com/gb/en

USA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard–Yale_Regatta

visittheusa.com (Note the double T.)

author
Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker

Learning Languages From Maps: England, bible names

Maps provide quick and easy ways to learn words.  You could learn one word today in ten languages. One useful word. (Plus a few useless words.)

Let's take some well known place names. They take us Geography and history.

English Place Names From England:

English and Oxford
If you visit London you will probably see the main shopping street, Oxford Street. Americans shorten and simplify spelling and language. Americans often drop the word street which can be a disaster for getting directions in London. At least one American has asked for Oxford and been sent on a journey to the university city of Oxford many miles away. The Oxford street presumably originally led in that direction.

English and Cambridge
The Cambridge is - a bridge over the river Cam. Cambridge is the city famous for students punting up and down the River Cam, little boats with a standing student pushing on a pole.

Oxford street. A ford over the river Ox.
Oxford and Cambridge have a boat race with several rowers which ends in London.

Israel and Jerusalem
Capital Jerusalem. J e r u - salem. Origin - salem or peace. The Hebrew for peace is Shalom. The Arabic is Salaam. The Hebrew greeting, equivalent of Hello or Hi, is shalom. The Arabic greeting worldwide is local or dialect variations on Salaam.

Israel and El
The two names for God in the bible, the old Hebrew bible or Old Testament, are El or Al and Yahweh. The name Jo-El combines both.

El or Al gives us the Arabic Allah.

Yahweh gives us the word Jehovah and Jehovah's witnesses.

From Jo we get Joseph, Josephine, Josie, Jo, Joe.

Aramaic, the language at the time of Jesus, is the origin of Arabic, and of Hebrew.  The written language originally had no vowels. Only the rich and famous and highly educated could read. Later dots and dashes were added above as guidelines. So the earliest parchments have no vowels and we have to guess the pronunciation.

The English pronunciation of El appears in many personal names. For example El-ijah, El-izabeth.

Beth or Beit is building or house. Bethlehem is house of bread. Beth - house - lehem - bread. Think of bakery, which also starts with the letter b, but house of bread enables you to remember each of the two words.

A quick way to learn a few words of a language is to look at the map. What are the words for the top ten cities, the mountain, the river, the square, the house, the church? The numbers one to ten also appear in names.

Numbers
Beersheba or Beersheba is a down in the south of Israel which in the original Aramaic would have been seven wells.  Sh-ev-a or She-b-a is seven.

Other common names are new and old. In England we have Newcastle, a city with a castle which is now quite old.

In London towards the old East End we have Old Street.

Looking at the train stations will also teach you history and Geography, although many names reflect past ages and landmarks which have vanished.

In London, Shepherds Bush will not have any shepherds nor bushes.

Orchard Road, Singapore's equivalent of London's Oxford Street, no longer has an orchard but is full of shopping malls.

On the other hand, looking at the map of England, it's easy to recall that Norfolk is north of Suffolk, because Norfolk was the land of the North folk, whilst Suffolk was the land of the South folk.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, author, speaker.

The Chocolate Show at Business Design Centre, Islington

Chocolate - what's not to like!
Chocoholics in paradise in a chocolicious show with a chocolate decorated Xmas tree. The French celebrate Xmas with Yule log cakes but now the chocolatiers are developing all sorts of concoctions for Xmas holidays.

Date
Friday afternoon Dec 12 and the weekend of Dec 13 and 14 2014 in London, England, plus more dates coming up.

Who is there from the chocolate world?


Want a ticket?
Adult tickets are £8 on the door, reduced to £7 if you buy online in advance.

Children up to 5 years old go free. Over 5′s tickets are £4 online or £5 at the door.

For any queries on online bookings please call The Ticket Factory on 0844 338 8000

Need to contact them?
thechocolatefestival@yahoo.co.uk

Nearest tube stations ANGEL (NORTHERN ONE STOP FROM INGS CROSS, TWO STOPS FROM EUSTON) OR HIGHBURY AND ISLINGTON.
http://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/
For more details see
festivalchocolate.co.uk/2014/10/the-biggest-chocolate-show-in-the-uk/

More! More!
More shows at Brighton, Bristol and Oxford.


Pictures:
I did a google search for chocolate xmas tree and found this link:
http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/partners/sweettreebybrowns/products

So, you can buy or make chocolate cones from chocolate buttons, Xmas trees with a dark chocolate trunk and chocolate buttons, Ferrero Rocher chocolates, with or without the gold foil covering, decorated with liquorice or chocolate buttons plain or coloured.

Another date for your diary:

Wine and cheese festival in 2015:

Friday 27 – Sunday 29 March 

Friday – 1pm – 8pm
Saturday – 10am – 7pm
Sunday – 10am – 3pm - so you must get there early.

Business Design Centre
52 Upper Street,
Islington,
London N1 0QH
You can park in a car park between the Business Centre and the hotel and pay online in advance. Quite pricey parking for one person, but reasonable if you've a car of seven people. (Or if you can offset it as a business expense.)

http://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/
Ticket sales for other shows are coming soon.