“Although we are up at 9AM, we are the last guests to leave the Duke of Marlborough Inn and it’s obvious that the cook has been twiddling his thumbs in the dining room, wondering if we would ever appear.
“Drive to the Oxford park and ride and take a double-decker bus into Oxford proper. AJM gives the usual tour. Brasenose college is closed because they are filming ‘Silent Witness’, but AJM obtains permission for us to walk around the Old Quad. The skies are too gray for good photos this time.
“We then climb the tower in St Mary’s for the best view and the sun comes out. Afterwards we walk through the covered market, go down past Christ Church to the boathouses on the Thames (no punters this time), past the botanical gardens (which I can only glance at over the wall), then to shop at Blackwell books and eat at Brown’s. I have an excellent rendition of calves liver. For dessert we share a summer pudding.”