Summertown

Summertown is the name of our neighborhood.  Just two or three blocks from the house is the main drag, Banbury Road.  The photo above shows the commercial area on Banbury where we do our grocery shopping.

Today I guided our two new students, Claire and Tim, down to the Summertown shopping area.  We decided to eat lunch in Marks and Spencer (aka M&S), which is a super nice ($$$) grocery.  So, we went to the little cafe inside, where I ordered a dish I had had on my trip to Scotland back in 1996:  baked potato with tuna salad on top.  This one actually had a little corn in the tuna mixture.  It sounds really weird, but it was mighty tasty!  Claire and Tim weren't so adventurous; they had sandwiches.

The amazing thing that happened in the cafe was that as soon as I sat down at the table, waiting for Claire and Tim to bring their food, I saw a couple walking by outside, and the guy looked very familiar.  I couldn't see the woman, but from the side the man looked amazingly like David Vaisey, the former director of the Bodleian Library, whom I had met through my former library ventures in Oxford.  David is also a friend of Kyle Spencer's.  So, I jumped up and dash out the door to see if it was really David -- and it was!   He and his wife Maureen were very surprised to see me.  We didn't chat long, but David did give me his emai,l and we talked about getting together soon.  What a nice surprise!

After lunch, Claire and Tim and I ventured down to Tesco's (a less expensive grocery store), where we each bought groceries.  I had brought the rolling cart, so I had plenty of room.  We also stopped at Boots (drugstore) where I finally found a curling iron for my hair!  Yay!  Maybe I can tame this awful mess.

So now we're back at home.  People are reading and napping.  They will head out for dinner at the college hall at about 6:30; dinner's at 7 (they have 10 meals a week that are paid for).  I'll just stay at home and eat some of this food I bought -- or, better yet, finish off the cottage pie.





Marks and Spencer
Grocery and Cafe



The Spencer House Fridge
My shelf is the one with the milk;
cottage pie is on David's shelf
(he's not here yet)