October was such a busy month. I usually post in the morning, but today I was away and I managed to finish the post only now. This month I’ve started University and I love it. I’ve made my first essay, I had my first tutorial, and I’ve been to many lectures and seminars. Staying in Oxford is amazing and I love every minute of it. We went on a holiday in Cardiff and it was amazing. I had lunch in a prison (working prison) – Clink, I visited an amazing open air museum, winner of Art Fund this year, St Fagans Museum, and I went into a coal mine and it was such an interesting experience. I will blog about that and a few more things I saw next month, as time ran out this month.
Now, as usual, let’s see a few of the highlights on my month, starting with VR. I went to an arcade VR session and it was fab! I loved it. We went to another VR, in Cardiff, and we raced each other, but more about that in a round-up.
If you want to teach your dog or cat Welsh, now there is a book that can help you. These were in a gift shop in one of the museums we visited. Isn’t it hilarious?
My husband surprised me with tickets to see Downton Abbey at Everyman cinema at Metquarter. We’ve also had lunch, as I was just coming back from Oxford. Going to see a movie at Everyman is a really great experience. We’ve had the food brought to us in the screening room. I loved the experience. Downton Abbey was nice, although I was a bit disappointed with some of the things in the movie, such as Daisy singing La Marseillaise… oh dear. Overall it was a nice movie and I would recommend it.
It was not the only time I’ve been to see a movie there this month, as I was invited to the Christmas Press Day at Metquarter.
1. Funny ducks. 2. Oxford. 3. Downton Abbey at Everyman Cinema. 4. Halloumi burger at a pub. 5. Having a sports massage, so good after carrying a lot of books with me. 6. VR experience, a really amazing one. 7. Cake baked for Bake Off bake along. 8. Making plans for the holiday, for example going to Anna Loka (a few days later). 9. Festus being silly, getting his vetbed into a funny shape and then sitting on it like it was comfortable. 10. Tredegar House. 11. Big Pit National Coal Museum. 12. St Fagans National Museum of History, winner of Art Fund Museum of the Year. 13. Cardiff Castle. 14. Clink Restaurant. 15. Norwegian church in Cardiff Bay, a must see. 16. Radcliff Camera. 17. Sunny sky, after the rain. 18. Oxford Botanic Garden. 19. I got a soya iced coffee from M&S, to enjoy while I was waiting for my train. 20. I started reading Cilka’s journey by Heather Morris, a great book. 21. Knowsley Safari Park. 22. Christmas movie at Everyman Cinema at Metquarter. 23. Back in Oxford. 24. Tour of the Bodleian library. 25. History of Science Museum. 26. Dessert. 27. Bridge of Sighs. 28. My plans for the next hour was to read from The mid-Tudor crisis by Loades, but I read for 1 hour and a half. 29. Sheldonian Theatre, where Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller, former director of MI5, gave the Romanes Lecture this year. 30. Divinity School. 31. Pumpkin for Halloween, spotted on the street.
I will talk in another post about my bakes this month, when I’m making a round-up of the baking along the GBBO.
This month I read 9 books, five of them history. I almost finished a couple more books, but they will go on the list for next month, when I’m actually finishing them. I would recommend the last three on this list as they are really interesting. Cilka’s journey is a sequel of the Tattooist of Auschwitz and it is a good book. 21 lessons by Harari is great, like his other two books, and I would highly recommend it. The last one, by Foer, is interesting because it is a philosophical book about climate change and less about facts and statistics. It offers a different perspective on what we are doing and what we should be doing.
Books I’ve read in October:
The Oxford illustrated history of Tudor and Stuart Britain by John Morrill – 5 stars
The English by Jeremy Paxman – 3 stars
Henry VII by Sean Cunningham – 4 stars
Someone to honour by Mary Balogh – 4 stars
Henry VIII by Lucy Wooding – 5 stars
The Reign of Henry VIII by David Starkey – 3 stars
Cilka’s journey by Heather Morris – 5 stars
21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari – 5 stars
We Are the Weather by Jonathan Safran Foer – 4.5 stars
You’ve had one heck of a busy month! That Welsh book cracks me up — I don’t think Lizzie even understands English except “Food!” and “Good Girl Treat!” (and that’s probably tone more than depth of comprehension!) I especially loved your visit to St. Fagan’s and am putting that on the someday list. And what an impressive collection of books. Well done!
Those books look funny. Maybe my dogs need to learn Welsh. 😂 That picture of Festus makes me think of how our Alice loves to aggressively fluff up her cushion, then plop herself down on it. It always makes us laugh. None of our other dogs do that.
Oxford is awesome and you’re so lucky to be staying there right now! And you deserve it of course, it’s a lot of work you’re doing 🙂 I loved Downton Abbey, I expected to be a bit disappointed but I was pleasantly surprised! It’s a shame there are some things you didn’t like about the film. The VR experience seemed like a lot of fun!
Julia x