
Yesterday, we visited Alfred the Great, who sits cast in stone in the centre of Wantage in Berkshire.
OK - the visit was
really to Oxford, but we passed over the Downs from Marlborough through Axford and Ramsbury, Membury and Lambourn, Wantage and Frilford on the way to give our international visitor something of an impression of the countryside that straddles Wiltshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire.
Wantage is a town I have passed through many times on my commute to Harwell, near Didcot, where I worked for a number of years, and indeed I used to be able to tell you which was the best chippie in the town, and find a quick evening meal there that didn't break the bank. That's now so many years ago, though, that my information would be of only historic value, I'm sure ... even though I was already giving
Perl Programming Courses in those days. It shows how in some ways things haven't changed - but in many other ways they have; although I'm still doing Perl courses and can claim longevity on one hand, and being able to claim that all the examples I used in those days
should still work, I can also tell you that I know of only one example - out of several hundred - that has survived without a major update.

Of course, Alfred the Great looks rather less majestic, impressive, isolated when you see him set amongst the traffic in the centre of Wantage, and it's very much the whole that counts to give the place its character. Thus with Perl - no one feature in isolation makes it a great language; it's "eclectic" taking many things from many sources, and it's the whole picture that makes the place as it does at Wantage.
See
here for some more of my pictures of Wantage. I have so many excellent Oxford pictures that they're waiting for a separate follow up thread and page!
(written 2008-10-13)
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
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[70] Red Luas - early life and times - (2004-10-02)
[92] Hard work, Hard sell - (2004-10-18)
[186] Lull - (2005-01-22)
[218] Golden Nugget - (2005-02-17)
[403] Full circle - made it back to an old haunt - (2005-08-05)
[670] Architectural Heritage - Devizes - (2006-04-04)
[685] A couple of days away - (2006-04-15)
[713] Pictures from my travels - (2006-05-07)
[727] A journey, an arrival, a people - (2006-05-21)
[730] Reading the newspaper and working with other restrictions - (2006-05-23)
[740] Finishing up in Dhahran - (2006-06-01)
[778] Weekend in Ireland - (2006-06-26)
[886] Signs of Leek - (2006-10-04)
[1147] A picture (mostly in words) of Helsinki - (2007-04-14)
[1204] Spot the difference - (2007-05-25)
[1229] Where am I? - (2007-06-11)
[1244] FolksFest Bristol - German beer, Bratwurst and music - (2007-06-24)
[1298] From Leeds - (2007-08-10)
[1307] Troy, up state New York - (2007-08-17)
[1425] Melksham v Ely - (2007-11-09)
[1456] Right up to the top of the City - (2007-12-03)
[1457] A day in Ljubljana - (2007-12-04)
[1460] Christmas fare in Ljubljana - (2007-12-05)
[1524] Nottingham - just text! - (2008-01-30)
[1536] A Weekend in Liverpool - (2008-02-10)
[1537] To Wales - where theres still a toll on the bridge - (2008-02-11)
[1590] All Change, Portsmouth Harbour - (2008-03-23)
[1617] Steam Engines at Bressingham - (2008-04-20)
[1624] From Freddie the fallow - (2008-04-27)
[1638] Pictures far apart - (2008-05-10)
[1639] Minehead Marauder - (2008-05-11)
[1652] Old Sarum airfield brings back fond memories - (2008-05-24)
[1714] Hillier Gardens, Hampshire - (2008-07-20)
[1715] Pictures from South Hampshire - (2008-07-21)
[1730] Punting on the Cam - (2008-07-31)
[1755] Istanbul - (2008-08-15)
[1804] Colvin and Carlisle - (2008-09-20)
[1807] A sad town in the sunlight - (2008-09-22)
[2205] An evening walk in Carrickfergus - (2009-05-29)
[2207] North Antrim Coast - a jewel thats well worth a visit - (2009-05-29)
[2316] Guadalajara - a special tour of a lovely city - (2009-08-01)
[2387] to Clifton Down and Avonmouth - (2009-08-30)
[2392] Lymington, New Forest - some pictures - (2009-09-03)
[2411] Further North - long summer days and lovely countryside - (2009-09-19)
[2624] Skyline and looking up in London - (2010-02-04)
[2733] Travel Troubles and Jesus again - (2010-04-21)
[2754] At Arlington and the Pentagon - (2010-05-07)
[2799] Nuremberg - some pictures - (2010-06-08)
[2802] After the Perl course in Nurnberg - (2010-06-11)
[2808] From home to Nurnberg - journey pictures - (2010-06-13)
[2809] Frankfurt in 90 minutes - (2010-06-13)
[2897] The Land of the Black Labrador - (2010-08-01)
[2907] Dartmouth, Kingswear and Torbay - (2010-08-07)
[2985] Right place, right season - (2010-10-04)
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[3185] Day Trip to Hereford, in pictures - (2011-02-26)
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[3353] Off the beaten track - non-quite-so-tourist spots - (2011-07-10)
[3393] Rodwell Trail, Weymouth - (2011-08-15)
[3529] Sharpness, Gloucestershire - a place in transport history - (2011-11-25)
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[3603] Another cold night - (2012-02-03)
[3631] Getting around Dublin by public transport - some observations - (2012-03-01)
[3654] On a sunny afternoon in London - (2012-03-15)
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[4182] Welcome to Salford and Oldham - (2013-09-30)
[4184] A fond memory - (2013-10-02)
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[4214] A busy week, and a long flight - (2013-11-24)
[4220] Thun, Switzerland - (2013-12-14)
[4331] Musings on a Welsh town - (2014-11-28)
[4348] Taking my life in my hands in Swansea - (2014-12-11)
[4411] Location, location location. And a chance of a giggle! - (2015-02-01)
[4477] Yesterday - off on leg one of our holiday - (2015-04-29)
[4479] Pictures from around Rekjavik - (2015-04-29)
[4480] Crossing between continents - (2015-04-30)
[4486] Newark to New York - the PATH suburban railway - (2015-05-05)
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[4497] Around the world from Melksham - (2015-05-25)
[4643] From last July (2015) - (2016-02-08)
[4671] Ruby training, half a world away - (2016-05-14)
[4683] Saudi Arabia or Weymouth? - (2016-05-22)
[4729] The oldest part of Los Angeles - (2016-11-23)
[4730] San Juan Capistrano - (2016-11-23)
Some other Articles
Formatting with a leading + / Lua and PerlValidating Credit Card NumbersJob applicationOxford in PicturesAlfred the GreatNext in the sequence - courses next year (2009)23:30 bookings and midnight checkinsSeend, near Melksham, WiltshireWeb Bloopers - good form design - avoiding pitfallsProcessing all files in a directory - Perl