I suppose it is fair that the street of St Giles in Oxford (with some encroachment on surrounding roads) gets taken over for an annual two day street event in September – the St Giles’ Fair. I’ve never had a job in town during the fair before, so I haven’t had particular cause to remark on it, but it lays right across my cycle commute.

The way in isn’t too bad as it is early in the morning, well before the fair starts, but it is pretty mad trying to get across St Giles and the bottom of Banbury Road on the way home with all the crowds (I wouldn’t even attempt my regular route along St Giles and onto Broad Street). Also, from late morning, we get a muffled version of sounds from the fair drifting into our offices.

Still, it’s only once a year and I guess it is an experience. For what it is worth, Wikipedia notes that St Giles was a saintly hermit in late 7th / early 8th century France and is known as the patron saint of (take a breath)… beggars; blacksmiths; breast cancer; breast feeding; cancer patients; disabled people; Edinburgh (Scotland); epilepsy; noctiphobics; forests; hermits; horses; lepers; mental illness; outcasts; poor people; rams; spur makers; sterility! What he would make of the Oxford event, one can only guess!