If it stands still photograph it.

Just a quick note. It seems we've become a fixture after 10 days on the same pitch - and still four more to go, plus the following pre Christmas weekend. I've lost count of how many time we've been asked over the past couple of days  "Can we take a picture with you?" It seems we're on some sort of treasure hunt for kids young and not so young where one of the tasks is to get of photo of yourself with someone interesting in Oxford. Apparently we rate a close second to Anthony, the town crier, who is worth more points as he's only in town on selected days while we're there every afternoon.  Always worth a few coins in the charity bucket - Macmillan cancer this time at the request of the castle management. I don't know whether Santa might be worth more but he's only here at weekends. Now there's a thought, a picture of Rosie and Santa.  

Oxford Castle

Well, over officious traffic wardens actually prevented us getting into Bourton on the Water for the evening there so we parked up outside the town and walked in  sans Rosie.

Oxford Castle is going well. Attached one picture pinched from the Oxford Mail. Could have cropped it a bit more accurately! Strictly copyright so I probably shouldn't have copied it. If they object I'll have to take it down and put one of my own in. This is one of hundreds they took - you know how fast motor drives can take pictures, and at one time both of us (me and the photographer) were lying in the middle of the road to try to get better views. Temperature was well below freezing at the time.

Christmas starts now

It snowed last night. Just a very few flakes but there was no doubt about it. It largely got lost in the artificial snow but you can tell the real thing. No mistake this morning though, a light dusting on the car Time to add thermals under the usual outfit.
After a quiet few weeks it's suddenly got busy. A tentative enguiry about busking at Oxford Castle brought a booking for no less than 21 day in late November and December - Nov 26 to Dec 12 and weekends to Christmas. We'll be there from midday to teatime each of those days.

Hope to add some pictures soon, in the meantime look up their web site to see what's going on. http://www.oxfordcastle.com/oxford_castle_events.html


In addition we will be in Bourton on the Water on the evening of Friday Dec 3 (that's the one day we'll leave Oxford a bit earlier ).


Come and say hello if you see us there.

Banbury Organ Festival

Not this year, but this picture was in the local paper (Banbury Guardian) as publicity for the event. They took several similar ones during the day so perhaps there'll be something on their web site bu the computer here is so slow today it's been trying to load it for best part of half an hour. It was another good day and for my money Banbury have got it just right. I didn't count but there must have been about 20 organ in total dotter round the town and with the town criers competition going on the the town centre on the same day it was indeed a colourful - and loud - day.

Takings were a bit down on pervious years but the mayor's charities still benefits by a reasonable sum. Well woprth a visit if you're on the area, usually the first Saturday of September. There's a good market too so something for everyone. 

 A couple of pages back in the same issue of the paper was the other picture. Geoff and Joan were at a local festival the previous weekend. The paper seem to have a thing about organ grinders with their arms round their organs. I've included this because when we first got Rosie Geoff was chairman of BOGA and helped us find our feet by passing on invitations local to us, some of which contacts we have kept up to become part of our regular circuit. Thanks Geoff and Joan .

Quiet summer so far

It looks like summer's on the way out and we've hardly been anywhere. It's not that there wasn't anywhere to go just that with pressure of other things there hasn't been a lot of time to go there. Most recently we were invited to a small private garden party at our friend Ben's house. It gave us a chance to try out the new wheel. Rosie's had a modern handle up till now which gives away the fact that she's not as old as we'd like to pretend. This one was found in a local scrap yard and is believed to come from a late 19th century treadle sewing machine and we reckon it look the part. A few minutes with the wire wool and a touch of WD40 and it slipped straight on the existing shaft......


 A picture from Saturday just arrived by email. I dont know who took it or who's turning the handle as I'm stood to Rosie's left and my assistant, Ben, is disappearing out of the picture to the right. I have hopes that Ben might be persuaded to don a monkey suit at some time but suspect he's getting a bit old for dressing up like that.
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Hottest day of the year!

Hottest day of the year, too hot indoors so we went out - into the sun - and spent the morning at the boot sale at Kassam Stadium. If you’re looking for a boot sale in the Oxford area this one happens every Sunday morning at a sensible time. Setting up from seven but we were told to get there about 10, by which time it’s busy, and all over in time for a latish lunch.

A quick sarnie at home and off the other way to Headington for a couple of hours entertaining the soccerphobes trying to ignore the BIG match. It was hot with a capital H O T - Tarmac melting on the roads, and Rosie suffered too. Nothing serious but the heat proved too much for a glued joint on her drive belt. We tried a repair on the spot but to no avail so we had to call it a day and head for home. Never mind, it was fun while it lasted. It was hard work pumping anyway, the air wasn’t trying very hard, but roll two sounded good. It’s our summer time roll and starts with a medley of “In the summertime” and “Let’s twist again”.

More research is needed in fixing the belt. I reckon a metal clip of some sort as well as the glue like we’ve seen on some of Rosie’s bigger brothers.

The pictures attached are one of Rosie’s young friends, Ben, who came to join us for the afternoon. Apart from Annie, Ben is one of the very few people we can trust to look after her while we go for a cup of tea. The first picture is Ben and Rosie entertaining the bike racks which were full so a few folks were out and about. The second one shows a passenger on the “Brookes” bus showing some interest while stopped at the lights. The few others don’t really seem interested but probably can’t hear anything anyway, you know what there modern hermetically sealed buses are like. The third shows that there were actually a few people about.

Home in time for tea then a work sheet:

• Fix Rosie’s belt

• Tune. Rosie like to keep out of the sun ( a bit like Annie really) and the hot weather has had quite an effect on the tuning.

• Fix spacers to some of the rolls. The weather affects all the ones where the alignment is with the hexagonal pin on the end of the spool but not the ones on home made spools where the hexagon only provides the drive and alignment is by card spacing washers. Confused? Don’t worry, I know what I mean.

Coming out of hibernation

A quiet winter but spring is in the air and I've been dusting the organ off ready for the new season. After a surprise birthday present on "bus pass day" in January of loosing my job I have time for other things. I'm looking for work but as the job centre say, there's not a lot about for disabled 60 year olds. I feel neither. The other news is that Anne surprised us all by getting married a couple of weeks ago to an old friend. I suspect this will leave her with less time for galivanting with "Rosie" but time will tell.

The diary for the new year is beginning to get a few entries but nothing for a month or so. Reckon I'll just have to hit the streets in Headington.

Looking through the files I find not a single picture taken there even though we're made the local press many times. Must rectify that soon. I'd also like to get a video clip or two to add here but that requires first that I get a clip and secondly that I find out how to add it. It all takes time. Perhaps a plea to anyone who has a clip to send us a copy. There must be many but most have been take in far flung places. Talking of far flung places the picture here was taken a couple of years ago at Padstow. We'd been invited to go on a sponsored cycle ride along the Camel Trail. Being a bit canny we got sponsorship for going not per maile so spent most of the day busking in the town centre. More practical than trying to get Rosie on a bike. Anne came up trumps to compensate by making a camel costume for two other friends to wear on their tandem.

Our next "official" outing is not till June 20th when we're at the fete in Chadlington, but other regulars are beginning to firm up dates.

Anyway, time's pressing an my hour on the library computer is almost up. Come and say hello if you see us about.

P.S. sorry about the spelling. Mistakes corrected 16.04.