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25 Jun 2004
Our new office has a sort of micro-balcony, on which it is possible to stand (not sit) in the sun and eat a sandwich. While the weather has been nice I've been taking advantage of it and catching a few rays and some fresh air at lunch time. One of the side-effects is that I get to hear the commentary from the open-topped tour buses that go by. These advertise a live1 guide, and this poor guy has to run through the same old spiel about 25 times a day, day-in, day-out. The boredom in his voice is palpable.
The story that he invariably tells when he reaches earshot of the balcony is an old apocryphal tale about a patch of land beside the Cherwell River known as 'Parson's Pleasure'. The dons were tacitly allowed to bathe and sunbathe naked in this area, and it was partially screened from surrounding areas. The story goes that one day, the disporting dons were disturbed by a puntful of ladies passing by. While most of the men scrambled to cover their—let's say loins—with books or towels, one serenely placed his book over his face. When his companions asked him what on earth he thought he was doing, he replied, "I don't know about you, but I expect people to recognise me by my face."
1 Because a dead guide would be so much less informative and entertaining.
1
On a trip to Dublin last year I had gotten to wondering about tour guides and how they could possibly go on and on about the same thing multiple times a day. We only caught a small section of the main tour around the city (due to it being cheaper to get on the tour bus than actually hail a proper bus) but what I did hear was hilarious, a female guide who seemed to be more interested in telling jokes and answering questions than reading from memory some dusty old brochure. I half wanted to stay on for the rest of the tour, it too was an open top bus and it was a nice day but I got forced to drag my arse around the zoo instead. Point is, maybe there are guides out there who are more entertainers than walking history lesson, maybe its just an irish thing though.-----
I was in Dublin last year as well, and one of the buses we had hopped on had a recorded commentary. After a few hours of worship at the Guinness Brewery, the next one we hopped on had an older gentleman who seemed to take great joy in passing on a mixture of fact and urban legend... including one story eerily similiar to the one you overheard.
by ChrisS @ 29/06/2004 2:06 pm • Permalink •