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Friday, 17 January 2020

A Cambridge Alphabet

I've been trying to sort out some of my photos lately and came across several of Cambridge which I rather liked. Many of these appeared in the early days of this blog and won't have been seen before by many of you. So here's the Cambridge Alphabet...

C is for Colleges...



The University has to be included but there's no U in the word C-A-M-B-R-I-D-G-E so "Colleges" it is. Not the most obvious one to show, but this is Peterhouse which is the oldest of them all, founded in 1284. 

A is for Antiquities...



There are also all sorts of old buildings in Cambridge which are nothing to do with the University. The little church of St Peter's is not the oldest church in the city, but it must be one of the prettiest.

M is for Market...



Right in the centre of Cambridge there's a daily market where you can buy all sorts of things, though the prices might have gone up a bit since I took this shot!

B is for Bikes...



It seems that everyone in Cambridge has a bike. It's not a fitness thing, or an environmental consideration - it's just the easiest way to get around.

R is for River...



The River Cam gives Cambridge its name - and that bridge gives Bridge Street its name! Punting on the river was a big part of my teenage years as I lived then at Grantchester, a couple of miles upstream.

I is for Innovation...



I could have shown you Independent shops or Inns as there are plenty of those (though not so many as there used to be). But it would be wrong to ignore the innovative hi-tech scientific work that is carried out by the University and many modern companies that have grown up around it. These are some of the buildings on the Biomedical Campus which stands next to Addenbrooke's Hospital.

D is for Diversity...



All kinds of diverse communities intermingle in various parts of Cambridge. This is the poorer part of town, around Mill Road, where just about every religion and nation of the world must be represented. The University of course also attracts scholars of all kinds and there are also many language schools dotted around.


G is for Gardens...



As well as the Botanic Gardens, that feature regularly on this blog, there are also beautiful gardens belonging to most of the colleges and many public parks. No doubt we'll be visiting some of them during 2020.

E is for Entertainers...



Cambridge has a tolerant attitude towards buskers and during summer some very skilled musicians can be seen playing for passing change. These are Fernando's Kitchen who were a regular fixture a few years back.

Of course it's not all perfect by any means. I could have included Congestion (as in the gridlocked streets during the evening rush-hour), Expensive housing and, most shamefully, Rough sleeping as there are many homeless people on the streets in recent years. But it's still my home city and somewhere that we'll dip into from time to time during the coming year; there's a lot of things I've never shown on the blog and some that are well-worth having another look at.


Take care.


23 comments:

  1. It is a beautiful and interesting city. My brother took me there once when I was visiting him in London.I loved it. I enjoy seeing it through your eyes too.

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  2. I particularly like that little church.

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  3. What a great idea for a post, I loved all the photos especially the one of St Peter's Church, is that the redundant one near Kettle's Yard?:)

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    1. Yes, that's the one. It's not exactly redundant though; although there are no regular services many people pop in there to pray/meditate/find some peace.

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  4. Hi John - clever selections ... and as Rosie says - great idea for a post. I know I use it quite often, when there's too much to say, too much info - and I can 'rattle' them out using the alphabetical letters. I hope to come up sometime to the Fitzwilliam ... meeting a friend to see an exhibition and then going back over with her to Milton Keynes for a few nights ... cheers for now - Hilary

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  5. I'm hoping to spend a day or so in Cambridge in June, so these lovely photos have whetted my appetite.

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  6. Oh John, I did enjoy this - what a lovely tour of your city. When I was about eleven I had a friend who managed a bookies for Laurie Wallace and we went to stay for a week (they took me as a companion) at Newmarket. One day we went to Cambridge and I remember being quite overawed with it, coming from a fenland village in Lincolnshire.

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  7. A different perspective from the cloistered views we often see. I will look forward to having you work a bird in there somewhere, John.

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    1. I'll keep an eye out for the Peregrine Falcon that sometimes perches on the college buildings in the city.

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  8. I look forward to more of Cambridge, John.

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  9. What a fun post...if I were to do the same, it would take forever. But I'm thinking. Great to see the diversity in Cambridge. I wonder how much of the TV show of "Grantchester" was actually filmed there. It had beautiful scenery most of the time.

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    1. I wrote a post about the filming of the TV series back in November 2014. It's still there on the Blog Archive which you can see by clicking on the relevant places to the right of the blog.

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  10. I enjoyed these and don't remember if I have ever seen them before. I love the bikes and their shadows...love that first shot, too.

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  11. I love the crestivity of this. It's such a grand idea. I may have to try that with Arcata, but with all those "A's" I'm not sure what I could come up with. Great photos!

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  12. This was a great idea for a post and now has me thinking that I should do one in future for the city we now call home. It certainly has much fewer letters, 6 total! And that church is a really beautiful one.

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  13. Our daughter met her husband in Cambridge when she was on a summer quarter. We spent a week wandering about. Such a lovely historical place. I would swear we had tea in some places. Great photos.

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  14. It must have been a lot of fun to create this blogpost. I love the bicycles photo!

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  15. Brilliant John, your post sums up Cambridge beautifully.

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  16. Beautiful architecture, and especially those flowers.

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  17. Cambridge is a beautiful city John, I have visited but so many years ago now. You show it so well here. Most cities have similar problems these days sadly ✨

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  18. I found your blog many years ago because I saw a photo of the bicycles and I recognized them as being so Cambridge ! I had just returned from my week there and had fallen in love with the city.

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  19. What a lovely city and a wonderful creative post. The bicycle photo is my favorite.

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  20. I really enjoyed this post. I've never been to England (or anywhere in Europe for that matter) so getting a sense of the community through your blog is really great!

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