This Month's Endorsements

Mostly getting old is just a long (or not-so-long) bumpy road downwards. But on thing I like about getting old is my increased enjoyment of finding really good things. I feel like I have the experience to make a sound judgment of quality. So here goes a new monthly feature of my blog.

• Far From the Madding Crowd, Oxford pub on Friar's Entry, very near Borders, quite close to the central bus station. Everchanging but always excellent beer selection. Good prices (2.5 for a pint of the daily special). Well-lit. Free wireless. Quiet enough for work or conversation. Welcoming. My favourite pub in the world!
• India Pale Ales: Jaipur from Thornbridge, Mahseer from Green Jack, and Carronade from TRYST.
• The Partridge, great French food in Wallingford. The best restaurant food I've had in England. Please, please go there. It needs more support!
• Outnumbered. Funny. Painful. Painfully funny. My favourite comedy since Thirty Rock.
• New College, Oxford. Medieval walls just do it for me.
• Bath, my favourite English city, in Somerset, my favourite county.
• The Cotswold Way, especially Wotton-under-edge and Painswick.
• Robert Schumann
• Music at St Peters, Wallingford
• Nicola Benedetti, Scottish violinist