Tagged: Favourite Place in My Neighbourhoods

Anne and May's Monday meme this week asked about your favourite place in your neighbourhood. Since I have two neighbourhoods in Oxford, I'm doing two. And May has all but ordered me to post a picture, so here goes:


This is the little street near the ACU houses - North Parade Avenue, home to two pubs, a couple of art galleries, a garden shop, a salon, a newsagent, and the ever-so-handy 9-to-9 grocery store. And also home to this wonderful place:



This is the best sandwich shop in Oxford, run by Debbie and her trio of Portuguese girls in striped aprons, who greet you cheerfully and sign your loyalty cards (buy 10 sandwiches, get one free), and always ask in their soft lilts, "Anything else?" Clara and Martha and the other girl (she's new, so I haven't yet got her name) are sweethearts, and the sandwiches are delectable. The simple options, such as bacon & egg or slices of Brie with salsa, are filling and delicious, and the specials, such as the Sexy Brazilian (chicken tikka, cheese, tomato and mango chutney) and the Tom's Le Club (Cajun chicken, bacon, salsa and mozzarella) are to die for. And if you have a mid-morning craving, they have banana bread and pains au chocolat - and sometimes pineapple bread. Yummmm.

I don't have nearly as many pictures of my other neighbourhood, the one in Cowley where I live with my sweet roommates. The Cowley Road, off which we live, is quite a melange of ethnic restaurants, thrift shops, bars and the necessary stuff, such as Tesco (the grocery store), Boots (the chemist), and Honest Stationery (they sell paper, pens and greeting cards - I love the name).

But my favourite place on the Cowley Road is the Oxfam shop where I volunteer on Wednesdays. I've done about four weeks now and I just love it. We sell all sorts of interesting things, from traditional Punjabi outfits (they were flying off the rack last week) to more normal clothes, from used books to DVDs to mulling spices for wine and cider, to Fairtrade dark chocolate (mmm) and recycled stationery products and greeting cards. Anne, my sweet manager, is always ready for a chat and never fails to offer me a cup of tea midway through the afternoon. I love that I get to enjoy myself while giving back.

Paris, by the way, was amazing. And I'm so thrilled to be able to post pictures again that you may get a flurry of pictorial posts soon. After all, there are three countries' worth of pictures to catch you up on! But for now, it's back to work. A bientot, and happy Tuesday!