Oxford Day 1 of 3 - I Travel South

Set off down south to Oxford via A1, M1, and M40. The highlight is when I pass a pink Austin A6, the low point when the sat nav tries to send me north from the M1 onto the M6. Note to self; I must get the maps updated. I listen to BBC Radio 5 as Stoke thrash Bolton 5 - 0 at Wembley and Arsenal let slip a 1 - 0 lead over Liverpool in the 8th minute of injury time. Not their year again then. 

I'm a bit worried as the M1 is still closed from junctions 4 to 1 after the fire on Friday, but no queues at all. Perhaps they should close it more often. Some idiot on the radio says we will 'have to look at whether we should allow scrap yards under the motorway'. So, no other type of business is a fire risk then?

Arrive in central Oxford a bit too early it seems as the sign as I pass the Royal Oxford Hotel says 'Next Burlesque on 26th April'! I try to find the office for tomorrow but am defeated by the one-way system. Instead I find the small hotel in Becket Street but residence only parking. Obviously this is not a car friendly city. Perhaps when I come back in May I'll come on the train. I park in the station car park outside the hotel but will have to move the car later as parking is only for rail users and they do check. 

The note on the hotel door says they're open but I get no reply. Ring the landlady. Her husband is in the washing machine room and can't hear the door bell so she rings him. He is very, very chatty and tells me I'll have to walk to the office in the morning as there is no access for cars. He even disturbs too old ladies watching TV in the dark lounge to show me the way on a map on the wall. He points me to the Park and Ride where I can park the car and get a bus back. Then, as an alternative, he suggests I park at a hotel nearby, The 'estgate' is run by the council (maybe that's why the W is missing) and they don't check, so I move the car there and walk back.

The room is small, clean and cosy although the radiator, which is on (a plus point), could do with a coat of paint. It has all the things missing from my recent visit to London including a small flat screen TV with freeview and a kettle. On the corner of the street are a Chinese takeaway and a Domino's Piza but I settle on a sandwich and crisps from the corner shop. Then blog while I wait for the football on TV and a repeat of Mel Gibson's Apocalypto.