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Epicentre · January 1st 12, 05:16 AM posted to uk.transport.london

wrote in
:

In article
,
(Peter T. Daniels) wrote:

In 1992 I bought some pound notes in Northern Ireland, because I
would be staying a few days in London after my speaking engagement in
Dublin. I was surprised to read on them that they were specifically
Northern Ireland currency, even though the were issued by the Bank of
England and legal tender throughout the United Kingdom (they said.)
The clerk ("shop assistant") in the British Museum bookstore had to
call the manager before she would believe it was real money. I
managed to find a bank branch and exchange them for "real money"
later that day, so that I could spend far too much at Blackwell's in
Oxford on Saturday. (I went up to Cambridge on Sunday; I think the
stores ("shops") were closed, except for a touristy establishment
where the clerk thought it odd that I wanted to buy a postcard with
the arms of all the colleges, like the one I had gotten in ("at"?)
Oxford. Perhaps the Cambridge colleges don't get along as well as the
Oxford colleges?

Northern Ireland notes, like Scottish ones, are issued by local banks,
not by the Bank of England so they are not legal tender. Only Bank of
England notes have that status anywhere in the UK. You'd find Sunday
very different here these days. it's the second busiest shopping day
of the week now, despite the shorter opening hours, mainly 11-5 here.

(I also liked the fusty old Ashmolean better than the newly
modernized Fitzwilliam, but the Ashmolean has now been renovated as
well so it probably resembles every other museum in the world.)

There is still plenty of traditional museum at the Fitzwilliam!

Organ scholars practicing ("practising") in every Oxford college
chapel, vs. Evensong at King's College ... hmm ... (I missed the
"opening hours" of the Bodleian on Saturday, because I took a bus
that got caught in traffic, so on Sunday I took the train to
Cambridge -- but that meant I had to sit in the narthex of St. John's
College Chapel for _their_ evensong because I'd have to leave in the
middle to catch the last(?) train down(?) to London.

The last train would have been _up_ to London. Trains normally run up
to London and down from London in this country, though there are
exceptions.

Which brings to mind Dr Spooner's famous saying about the Town Drain

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