Oxford. Legendary town of learning. Well, actually a city since I was told by one of the people here that since they have their own cathedral, they are considered a city.
Didn't know that.
I took the National Rail to Oxford from Paddington Station, 5 minutes from Grim's place. Verrrrry convenient. The ride was just about over an hour. Within 15 minutes I was asleep and within 45 minutes, the Conductor woke me up to do a ticket check.
Embarassing. But at least the mighty roar of diesel engines masked the quiet hum of my sleeping. Yes, you read right. National Rail still uses diesels just like China Railways. Except (train geek stuff coming!) that China Rail uses an engine and tows the passenger cars along, no differently than a freight train. National Rail cars have no engine, but are self contained. Imagine a Tube (or MTR or BART ) car except it runs on diesel instead of electricity. Mighty locomotive sounds like a really big MUNI bus.
Once we got out of Reading, it instantly turned into countryside. England is very green. Green trees. Green meadows (with the occasional yellow patch, what ARE those plants?). Green water. Green sky.
Ok, not green sky. Just seeing if you're awake.
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