Oxford day

I had one pill of my travel probiotics left and needed to make a trip into Oxford to the larger health food store to buy some more.I stopped in our market town at the small health food store earlier in the week, but they only carried probiotics which are stable at room temperature and have 2-5 billion cultures, and I'm used to taking 50-100 billion cultures. Live cultures, stored in the fridge, not the dry kind stored on the shelves. Well, it would seem that my live kind are not that easy to get in the UK, so I bought a 25 billion kind and am hoping for the best.But while I was going into town anyway, I thought I'd take you with me.I always park two miles out of town in the park and ride, which for me should be called the park and walk, and walk in.The walk is lovely, gets me some fresh air and exercise and goes past garden alotments and various canals of the Thames, until it gets into town.I did pick this day to walk in because once per week is a vintage market day and loads of tents set up and all sorts of interesting goods.I had a good mooch around the market but the prices are so much higher than the car boot sales, the goods that I'm interested in, like ink bottles, paper ephemera, or stoneware, not that much different than the car boot sale finds, and my map seller wasn't there this week, so I didn't buy anything.On to Cornmarket street to get to the covered market where the health food store is.Cornmarket is the typical tourist street so a good deal of crowd surfing goes on to get thru.But a duck down the alley away from the tourists and I'm in the covered market.Note to self, come back and buy some flowers last minute.So I bought the probiotics, had a peek at some of the lovelier stores and stopped at the butcher for some steak and ale pies.Then out of the covered market and down some of the roads, I had a peek thru the gates of some of the universities.Down the lovely streets of warm Cotswold stone buildings......to one of my favourite stores in the whole world; Scriptum.Guys, I just love this store.It's like walking into a jewel box curiosity shop of needful things.It's full of whimsey and fun and vintage books, and the most beautiful, handmade, leather bound, marbled-paper journals in the world.Then out of Scriptum, where I didn;t buy anything...yet...and back thru the streets, peeking into other front gates of universities.Past the Radcliffe Camera, (the ancient university science library), and into St Mary's Church behind it.At the ground floor of the church is a little garden cafe called The Vaults...because it is in the Vaults of the church...with lunch tables and chairs among the gravestones.The cafe belongs to our friend Will and I popped in to say Hi, but he wasn' working today.So, being very restrained in my shopping today and having bought the essentials I came into town for, I walked back out again.But don't worry, I'll be back.