Banks and Museums

Today Adam and I had an appointment with Barclays bank in Oxford, hoping to finally, FINALLY, get to open a bank account in England! We set off early, hoping to first try our luck with the Lloyd's bank that's in Goring before going out to Oxford. Little did we know though, that Goring High Street is closed until 10am. So we loitered outside the bank until they opened, only to be told that such matters are not handled in Goring...

So we set off to the train station, and midway there realised that the next train would be at the station at 10:06... it was 10:04! So off we ran, up the street and across the road! As we got to the ticket machine we saw our train pulling into the station, but unfortunately it was on another platform! We ran up and across the bridge to platform 3, only to see the doors closing and the train set off! So after all that effort, we sat and waited for 30min for the next train...

Once we arrived in Oxford, we walked around and looked at some shops until our appointment. We then went to the bank, to have our meeting with the 'Personal Bankers', which, according to Barclays, are a couple of guys who are younger than Adam and I and can't spell. They were friendly enough though, and we eventually left having opened accounts!

Adam and I then spent some time walking around Oxford, looking at the old building and awesome campuses. There really is a huge difference in infrastructure, architecture, ammenities and student life between Oxford and Wits, but I don't think that comes as a suprise to anyone once you remember that Oxford is probably the most famous University town in the world...

Another cool thing about it is that all the museums are free and open to the public, so we popped in and looked at them. The Modern Art Museum was closed due to a new installation in progress, so we went to the Museum of the History of Science. Their current exhibition was entitled "eccentricity", and featured curious objects used throughout the years for various purposes. They included a lot of old microscopes, globes, astronomical instruments, drawing tools... Really everything you could think of. 

The most impressive thing about it all was the precision and intricacy that was put into each and every piece. These were objects made hundreds (if not thousands) of years ago, and the detail and designs were still impressive. They were perfect examples of objects being both useful and beautiful, and even though some were used for the same purpose, each was unique. The perfect example of this being the many various sundials, which used different shapes and methods to tell the time. One curious sundial had a little canon on it, that you would fill with gunpowder in the morning, and at precisely midday, the sun's rays would shine through a magnifying glass and light the canon's fuse! Very cool. I wonder if one day the iPod or iPad will be as interesting...

The rest of the day was spent at our place, where I took my first afternoon nap while here, and it was glorious! Let's see what tomorrow holds for us!