Oxfordshire lies kind of south to south-west, not far from London. It’s of course known worldwide as the setting for Inspector Morse. It is indeed a beautiful city with spires and ancient buildings, but if you visit don’t expect it to be full of students in capes on bicycles – it’s actually a very busy city with too much traffic, but with walkable communities could be gorgeous. Adolf Hitler also thought so, as he planned to make this city his official residence, if he had won the war.
Animal vivisection is barbaric, expensive and almost medically useless (the first heart transplant was delayed by years, due to experiments on dogs). Only give to humane medical research charities to help cure ‘incurable diseases’. Politely refuse to give to big animal-testing charities who are more concerned with keeping the status quo (just say ‘thank you, but I only give to humane research’). Oxford’s VERO (voice for ethical research at Oxford) is a wonderful organisation with boffins who can argue the science (that most of us don’t have the brains to do).
Oxford sits on the River Thames. This passes from the Cotswolds through London right out to the North Sea on the east coast. The treated water is actually pretty clean these days (blind taste tests beat expensive bottled water). Years ago before sewage works, Parliament used to have to regularly close down, as the stench was so bad! A land of pretty villagesgrab a vegan beer and sit on the terrace of one of the many local pubs and watch the world go by in river-time. And raise a glass to Inspector Morse!