Just a couple of punters...

Well OK, only one punter - Mark. I took the easy option and allowed myself to be punted around for a while. That doesn't sound very good does it? We went up to Oxford today, and indulged in the quintessential Oxford passtime (other than drinking in one of the many pubs) of punting along the river. And I should say "river" in diddits, because they're really more like very slowly moving, very long and skinny lakes. They're the most ridiculously manicured, cultured, still rivers you've ever seen, nothing like the Murrumbidgee or the Murray, with snags and high banks and overhanging trees and even a current. Anyway once we got into the punting we were actually pretty glad of this.

After forcing our business and money onto the bored, spoilt little Oxford boy who was obviously suffering the degradation of having to work for his crust on a Sunday morning, Mark had the briefest ever lesson on how to handle a boat, and we were pushed off into the stream. Kind of, except that the bored little Oxford boys couldn't be bothered helping us with that so we really ended up pushing ourselves off into the stream. Having never punted before, and having only had 3 words of guidance from the spoint little Oxford boy, Mark picked up the knack miraculously (albeit after running us through some rose bushes and stinging nettles first). It was a beautifully serene, tranquil ride. For me anyway, I'm sure Mark's got another perspective he can post about. The only hiccup, after gliding smoothly through tunnels and having to duck down under low-lying bridges (there's a pic above - very surfie hey?), was briefly losing our punting pole when it stuck into the bottom of the river. But, some quick paddling by Mark with the back-up oar somehow managed to get us back upstream to the pole and all was well again, not to mention still dry! Here's a pic of the moment of truth just before he lunges for the stranded post.

All up, it was great fun! And yes, I pretty much did nothing the entire hour we had the punt. Except offer moral support and probably incorrect advice on which side to paddle on to make the boat turn left or right. That's important right?

In amongst all of the hundreds-of-years-old sandstone architecture, which was all very beautiful and historic, we also saw some hilarious statue heads that we concluded must have been the rough draft for The Simpsons. Either that, or there were some stone-masons carving statues that had a great little joke on whoever was employing them, as they're not exactly the most dignified-looking statues you've ever seen. Here's a pic.