Oxford

Oxford is my hometown, my home. I was born and raised there, with a few years away during university and thereafter, but I was always desperate to come back. I could feel it pulling me back. I would visit very often during the time I was living away, I was never that far, so there was always a sense of still belonging there and being able to keep up with the changes. Yet actually living here makes me feel most comfortable and gives me a true sense of pride.

It is a city full of history and culture and there is so much to do. I am more of a night owl, not a clubber, or a pub drinker, but I like to get out in the night to soak up the atmosphere and the cool night air. There always seems to be a sense of adventure by going out at night in Oxford.

I have never lived far from the centre of the city. After school, it would be so easy just to hop on the bus, grab a cheap meal and cruise around town with friends, spending pocket money on what then seemed so cool, yet down the line you would inevitably ask yourself “why did I buy that?”.

Over the years, as the city changed and as I grew up, nothing had contributed better to the nostalgia of living in my home city, as music. I recall the different shops over the years, where I would search for clothing, accessories and general teen junk, whilst 90s club, pop, summer party, or winter jingle music blasted through. I still hold much of my music collection from when I was young, which I would only listen to in private to avoid complete social exclusion, yet it marked the memories I would eventually hold and provide a secure comfort in the recollections of my younger years, in the city I love and admire so much.

Trips to the cinema were also as much a contribution to nostalgia as music. What better way to celebrate your life story with the memories of the films you went to see. Equally, as time went by, I noticed the change in cinema, from: cheesy, cute flicks, such as One Fine Day; to popular adult animated films such as Beavis and Butthead Do America; to action packed, sci fi such as Independence Day; and record breaking, low budget, phenomenally successful independents, such as The Blair Witch Project. We weren’t just talking about films, we were talking about the story of my life growing up.

I took various part time jobs, meeting new and interesting people, from all over the world. Something Oxford has to offer is the variety of people it brings, who are there to study, learn English, or simply work and settle.

I worked in a bookstore, with a generous discount on books, which could not have suited me better. Surrounded by slightly older people, all on the cusp of moving on to university, I looked up to them, admired their tastes and being a bit of a shrinking violet, learnt so much about sociability from them.

Unusually, it would be bus journeys into town that would leave their mark on my mind. It was something I did a lot, but to keep things interesting I would put on my tape player/CD Walkman/MP3 player, with a compilation tape/CD/MP3, and create a soundtrack for my journey. Again, times and music changed, as I did too.

When I was in my early teens, I discovered my true passion for all things artistic and creative. I had always had a great love for film, but eventually took it to the next level and began to read film theory. I explored music of the less mainstream category, appreciating rock, metal and indie. I read books of a more grown up nature: Lolita; In Cold Blood; Norwegian Wood; Prozac Nation. I had the world and all its goodies at my feet.

Places to go, as mundane as some might have been, were like a child’s club house to me: The Pitt Rivers Museum, offering remnants of the prehistoric age, or ancient artefacts (it is still a great place to go to today, I want to live in there!); the now non-existent Borders bookshop, very Americanised, but full of all types of books you couldn’t find in the other mainstream bookshops, or unless you searched online. Their film section always contained so much than I ever knew was published about film. They also had a music section, where they offered you the chance to scan a CD and listen to the tracks before buying. The memories of the last days of VHS still linger, as the shelves became less stocked and the prices hugely discounted. Alternatively, you could waltz in (up to midnight, another great aspect was their opening hours), grab a magazine and sit in Starbucks for a couple of hours. A total haven!

The Oxford library, once again full to the brim of books, music and films, where you could keep cool in the summer and peruse the collections; Videosyncratic in Summertown, again, now defunct, but the cool person’s video/DVD store; G & D’s ice cream parlour, also open all hours, is abuzz with intellects of Oxford University enjoying the innocence and fulfilment of obscure ice cream flavours; The Phoenix cinema, an independent and art house cinema, which also offers the mainstream releases, but opens your eyes to the wonderful alternative films from Europe, Asia, North and South America and Australia. Animations, documentaries, classics and Avant Garde, it was a saving grace for someone like me wanting, needing to discover the world of cinema; The Malmaison Hotel – the obscurity of a prison turned hotel suggests a rather distasteful, uninviting place to stay/visit, but it’s architecture, design and décor are incredible to say the least (three cells to a room, in case you were wondering ….).

Oxford is not without its functional side and the John Radcliffe hospital has been the birthplace of myself and seven other family members, and has seen the deaths of four.

The University and its colleges dominate the city, even more so now with the conversion of the old Radcliffe Infirmary to a new Humanities department.

Oxford, as ever, continues to change and continues to entertain and amuse. It is my home and will always be my home.