Welcome to justthoughtsnstuff

I started posting to jtns on 20 February 2010 with just one word, 'Mosaic'. This seemed an appropriate introduction to a blog that would juxtapose fragments of memoir and life-writing. Since 1996, I'd been coming to terms with the consequences of emotional and economic abuse that had begun in childhood, and which, amongst other things, had sought to stifle self-expression. While I'd explored some aspects of my life through fiction and, to a lesser extent, journalism, it was only in 2010 that I felt confident enough to write openly about myself. I believed this was an important part of the healing process. Yet within weeks, the final scenes of my family's fifty-year nightmare started to play themselves out and the purpose of the blog became one of survival through writing. Although some posts are about my family's suffering - most explicitly, Life-Writing Talk, with Reference to Trust: A family story - the majority are about happier subjects (including, Bampton in rural west Oxfordshire, where I live, Oxford, where I work, the seasons and the countryside, walking and cycling) and I hope that these, together with their accompanying photos, are enjoyable and positive. Note: In February 2020, on jtns' tenth birthday, I stopped posting to this blog. It is now a contained work of life-writing about ten years of my life. Frank, 21 February 2020.

New blog: morethoughtsnstuff.com.

Saturday, 28 July 2012

walk, binsey, taylor, hollybush












































Beautiful morning--fresh to begin with, getting hotter, but not too humid, as the sun climbed higher.
 
Caught 18 bus at seven because I was due at the Taylor. The bus gets to Oxford way before the library opens so I had a great walk. Oxford canal towpath to Aristotle Lane then out onto to Port Meadow and along Fisherman's Walk. Crossed the Thames at Bossoms Boatyard and headed for Binsey. The lane from the hamlet feels more like the country than the lanes round Bampton. It's a delight and leads to the ancient church and its 'treacle' well. We were married at Binsey.
 
Loved the sight of Wytham Hill from Port Meadow (above) and the chicory plants lining the river bank by the boatyard. You used to only see chicory near the ring-road roundabout at Botley. I'm pleased that it's spreading. Come to think of it, the roundabout isn't that far from Binsey. (The sound of the ring road in the churchyard is what gives the game away that you're not in the countryside.)
 
So many walks along these interlinked paths years ago. Lovely to see the old places.
 
The sky seen through the vast windows in the Taylor Main Reading Room has been moody at times and at one point looked like rain.
 
Taking a quick break now before the final hour. Then it's off to Witney and a late lunch at the Hollybush.
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