Hello again. Your Botley Road Update brought back more memories of my early marriage days with a Cowley girl from Marshall Road, which you were kind enough to visit in an earlier video. After our marriage in November, 1959, we were living with her parents in Marshall Road, while I served with the US Air Force Upper Heyford, and my wife worked at Nuffield Exports in Cowley. We had a falling out with her parents in the winter of 1960-61 (probably because we were using too much coal or electricity, I can't remember), and we decided to move out on our own. We found a two room rental on Helen Road (can't remember the number) that was straight out of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. There was no hot water and we shared an outside toilet with the elderly owner of the house. I still have a picture of my wife stood in the drizzle next, I think, to the aptly named Osney Ditch. She looks miserable because she was, and so was I. We stuck it out for a few months, and then reconciled with her parents and returned to Marshall Road until my enlistment ended in September 1961, and we came to America. I see that houses on Helen Road are selling for 600,000 pounds on average. Amazing. Keep walking.
Thank you Robert for another lovely reminiscence. I do enjoy reading them, and it's great to have your comments. I've put Helen Road on my list, and in fact was going to do it this morning. But because of the weather, I did Fog And Flood instead. What you described reminded me of a David Lodge novel called "Out of the Shelter". To quote www.goodreads.com/book/show/267256.Out_of_the_Shelter : ❝ While Timothy Young's adolescence occurs in the constricted world of post-war Britain, his older sister Kath escapes the world of ration coupons and vaguely perceived dissatisfactions. She works for the American army in Europe, enjoying the opulence of life on American pay. ❞
@@WalkingOxford Thanks for the David Lodge tip. I've ordered a copy for myself. As an ex-academic I enjoyed reading Lodge's "Changing Places" and "Small World," but I didn't know about your suggestion.
@robertneuman6808 I have just put up my video of Helen Road and Osney Ditch, at th-cam.com/video/Hpi5PvUqQXw/w-d-xo.html . I said some of the house numbers, so you may be able to work out yours. Enjoy!
I believe that “what that is” is a mobile / transportable digital traffic surveillance unit. As the traffic over Osney Bridge seems to be single file, ‘they’ will want to catch anyone either going through a red light late at night, or more likely, there are other such units at either end of the traffic restriction so they will be able to read number plates and measure average speed. They would also be able to remotely monitor general flow. But don’t quote me on that, especially not to ‘them’.
@ Now that’s a very good question. According to the internet, it was opened in 2000 and the roof was stolen very soon thereafter. As I recall, a team turned up with a low-loader lorry and set about removing the roof in less than a day, lead and all (naturally), without challenge. I remember driving past and doing a double-take on the missing roof tiles. It took quite a while to be fixed, too - they had temporary tarps as cover for several months.
So that’s what the other side of Botley road looks like, did not see that one coming. I just have no idea when that road is going to open.
Hello again. Your Botley Road Update brought back more memories of my early marriage days with a Cowley girl from Marshall Road, which you were kind enough to visit in an earlier video. After our marriage in November, 1959, we were living with her parents in Marshall Road, while I served with the US Air Force Upper Heyford, and my wife worked at Nuffield Exports in Cowley. We had a falling out with her parents in the winter of 1960-61 (probably because we were using too much coal or electricity, I can't remember), and we decided to move out on our own. We found a two room rental on Helen Road (can't remember the number) that was straight out of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. There was no hot water and we shared an outside toilet with the elderly owner of the house. I still have a picture of my wife stood in the drizzle next, I think, to the aptly named Osney Ditch. She looks miserable because she was, and so was I. We stuck it out for a few months, and then reconciled with her parents and returned to Marshall Road until my enlistment ended in September 1961, and we came to America. I see that houses on Helen Road are selling for 600,000 pounds on average. Amazing. Keep walking.
Thank you Robert for another lovely reminiscence. I do enjoy reading them, and it's great to have your comments. I've put Helen Road on my list, and in fact was going to do it this morning. But because of the weather, I did Fog And Flood instead. What you described reminded me of a David Lodge novel called "Out of the Shelter". To quote www.goodreads.com/book/show/267256.Out_of_the_Shelter :
❝ While Timothy Young's adolescence occurs in the constricted world of post-war Britain, his older sister Kath escapes the world of ration coupons and vaguely perceived dissatisfactions. She works for the American army in Europe, enjoying the opulence of life on American pay. ❞
@@WalkingOxford Thanks for the David Lodge tip. I've ordered a copy for myself. As an ex-academic I enjoyed reading Lodge's "Changing Places" and "Small World," but I didn't know about your suggestion.
@robertneuman6808 I have just put up my video of Helen Road and Osney Ditch, at th-cam.com/video/Hpi5PvUqQXw/w-d-xo.html . I said some of the house numbers, so you may be able to work out yours. Enjoy!
I believe that “what that is” is a mobile / transportable digital traffic surveillance unit. As the traffic over Osney Bridge seems to be single file, ‘they’ will want to catch anyone either going through a red light late at night, or more likely, there are other such units at either end of the traffic restriction so they will be able to read number plates and measure average speed. They would also be able to remotely monitor general flow.
But don’t quote me on that, especially not to ‘them’.
Got you. I hope they're not monitoring pedestrians as well. Should I wear a full-face mask?
@ Just don’t rob any banks or steal the roof off the West Oxford Community Centre (again).
When was the roof stolen???!
@ Now that’s a very good question. According to the internet, it was opened in 2000 and the roof was stolen very soon thereafter. As I recall, a team turned up with a low-loader lorry and set about removing the roof in less than a day, lead and all (naturally), without challenge. I remember driving past and doing a double-take on the missing roof tiles. It took quite a while to be fixed, too - they had temporary tarps as cover for several months.