Here are a few highlights of my first two weeks now here in Oxford. Nothing terribly exciting happened, I’m still technically getting settled in, but I am beginning to slow down and relax from what amounted to nearly two and a half months of moving. There will be two more parts so I don’t overwhelm my alert readers. I’ll try and have the rest out by mid-week.
My dad and I got to Oxford with on a Sunday night and stayed at a Days Inn right near my apartment (about 1/3 of a mile). We ate Subway that night and watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban around his laptop. Not the ideal watching environment, but I couldn’t argue with the company. I got up the next morning early, got a shower, got breakfast, then went out to get my proof of income and the keys to my apartment. I let dad sleep in until he woke up since he hadn’t been feeling well for a few days before hand and he didn’t’ need to come out with me to do anything unless he wanted to. I got all that stuff taken care of and got to my apartment about 9:30 and unloaded my car, all the while trying to visualize where things would go. The AC was running full blast. The doorknob had condensation on it when I first got here (more on the ongoing AC saga later).
I got back to the Days Inn and rested for a bit in a cool room. Then my dad and I took the truck, parked it in a good spot (the ramp on the sidewalk), and did some light fairly leisurely unloading and unpacking. Given that it was in the already in the mid-upper nineties at 11am, we took frequent water/Gatorade breaks. We were awaiting some more help in the form of my brother in law (strong legs and strong back) and my mother (for logistics). They arrived about a half hour late because they took a wrong turn around Tupelo. It was no big deal for me and dad because we had a nice cool apartment to rest in.
They arrived at around 12-12:30p. We did some more unloading with the stronger back/legs and more logistical support. We then all decided we were hungry and I ordered some delivery from Roly Poly. That took about a half hour to get here, and was a welcome break for us all, because we had sustenance, and also some furniture to put the food on whilst we ate.
We did some more unloading then took a bit of a rest. Then my brother in law and I took a nickel tour of the city while my mom and dad rested and did some unpacking and straightening for me. We were waiting for some muscle from the church (Christ Pres) to arrive at around 6pm. They arrived promptly on time. Two former marines, and the starting center for Ole Miss’s football team.
Paul and I had gotten some recommendations on where to eat that night from a librarian while we were scouring the town for a map (as it turns out, we should have just gone to the C of Commerce, but we didn’t know where that was at the time…for future reference, it’s where Sorority Row intersects Jackson Ave.). Yes, we stopped at a library. I swear, these librarians are like geographers and maps. At any rate, we decided on a place called “Ajax”. Sort of a southern cusine type joint. Fried catfish, chicken fried steak, meatloaf, veggie plates, and much more. You get the idea. It was right on the Square, at the heart of downtown Oxford. It seems like a nice enough place, and I think it’s going to be the place that Mom and Dad, and Paul will want to go if/when they ever come to visit. There are other places on the Square to eat, but I haven’t yet had enough time to explore (for instance, there’s an Italian place named Old Venice, where I ate on Monday that has a good pizza and was allegedly voted Mississippi’s best pizza the past three or four years).
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