Oxford Sweet Oxford

Oxford is the largest settlement close to where we live in Canterbury. It has a population of approximately 2,000 people. However, it enjoys some fantastic amenities that would put my old village of Holme-on-Spalding Moor, located in the East Riding of Yorkshire, to shame. Both villages are about the same size. I have listed a few of them below:

No1: Clean and working public toilets.


No 2: A fire station (eat your heart out Cllr Engall - you can't close this one!)


No 3: A farmers market on a Sunday morning


No 4: A council service centre, library and post shop


No 5: A police station (not that we have much crime)


No 6: A skate park (didn't Holme-on-Spalding Moor used to have on of these - what happened to it?)

No 7: An outdoor heated swimming pool


No 8: A sports ground with squash courts, a bowling green, cricket and rugby pitches and a nice sports pavilion.


No 9: An adventure playground for the children


No 10: A community hospital with beds (so the old folk can be cared for close to home and friends)

No 11: The Town Hall


No 12 - A monthly craft market.


No 13: An observatory at the local school


No 14: The A & P Showground


It just goes to show, 'There is no place like Oxford!'.

Rural Broadband speed in NZ

I see there are complaints regarding the speed of broadband services where I used to live in the UK, a small rural village called Holme-on-Spalding Moor in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

I live in rural Canterbury about 7 Km away from the village of West Eyreton. NZ Telecom have invested in fibre to the cabinet and I can download in a very rural location (I am 500 metres from the nearest road!) at 4.8 Mb per second which is very reasonable especially when you consider the service is sold with a theoretical maximum speed of 7.6Mbps.



If New Zealand can deliver the services out in the sticks then I have to wonder why the UK struggles to provide similar services? Perhaps more importantly, why do the local politicians allow British Telecom to provide a sub-standard service?

All credit to Howdenshire Cllr Paul Robinson for raising the issue even though he lives outside of the village. What is the resident Conservative councillor, Cllr Doreen Engall, doing about it? My guess would be very little!