Balliol Door – Original Painting

She pushes a blue bike, one that matches her phone. Her face is obscured. She focuses on that all important call. We can’t tell if she’s as a student or just a regular citizen, about her business. Oxford is an old city, with so many narrow streets and alleys that it is often quicker to walk or cycle from A to B. Rather than use a car or the bus. Not that you don’t take your life in your hands when you cycle around Oxford. Cars blame the cyclist’s disregard for rules, and cyclists blame cars for their failure to spot the smaller, vulnerable cyclists. As always, in these cases, there is usually truth on both sides of the argument, but I digress.

We are stolling by Balliol College, one of Oxford University’s premier colleges.