brit/usa

Various villages around Northampton - Roade, Scaldwell, Watford Village, Ashton and more recently Duston. Never thought that I would miss them so much!

Partystar

Yeah, me too. It's a lovely part of the country, I miss the green, it's all desert here!

brit/usa

It is all desert here also (southern Utah) which I love the but cannot believe that I now get excited when I see rain!

Partystar

Yeah, I love it too, it's beautiful, but a totally different beautiful! It's kind of a let down that it's so hard to maintain grass in your garden. I too get excited when I see rain, I love the storms that we have here, except for the brush fires that they start.

TaffyinOK

I'm from Wales originally but I lived in and around Oxford. Worked at RAF Upper Heyford for the M.O.D. I've lived in Somerton, Souldern, Oxford, Kidlington and Botley (before I got married). Played on the dart league for The Wheatsheaf. Also lived in Bicester (ex-hubby placed rugby for Bicester Rugby Club) in the mid-80's before being shipped back Stateside.

Partystar

I used to hang out on RAF Upper Heyford as a child, we loved it. Mum used to takes us there for pizza & ice-cream, it was so much cheaper than anywhere else & those were the days of innocence (pre-September 11th), so they would let anyone on! I was so bummed when they shut it down, I used to drive up there all the time to see friends that now live in the old base housing (they sold it off cheap). It's really sad, all the buildings are falling down, the hangers are full of cow ashes left over from the BSE crisis, it really is a shame.

They should have closed down RAF Croughton instead, Heyford was much nicer, plus they had a brand new hospital, which just stands there empty, it's such a waste. I wanted our hospital trust to buy it, but I think it's sold now. Everyone has to go up to RAF Lakenheath to the hospital there as there isn't one on RAF Croughton, the base is tiny & run down.

On another note, I have friends out in Guthrie.

dragonfly

We are from Aylesbury in Bucks about 20 miles from Oxford I know the city centre well my sister has lived in Thame and she now lives in Chinnor in Oxon.
I used to enjoy going shopping in the city centre and going to the market I beleive it was called the Buttermarket I think.

Partystar

I only know of the covered market.

Elvira

Could I just chip in and suggest you consider getting AP - what if there was an unexpected family emergency? It would be awful if you were stuck here.

Sorry, don't want to worry you, but I think this has happened to some people here...

Partystar

I was given the AP forms with my AOS paperwork, I filled out all the rest that was necessary, but decided against getting the AP as it was an extra $165 & it would be too tempting for me to just fly back home whenever the feeling took hold of me. We really can't afford to do it, we already put the $1500 that it has already cost us on a credit card, so thought better of it in the end.

Of course, I did think about family emergencies, but at the end of the day, we just couldn't afford to go back anyway. If I had the money, I would get the AP & go home regularly.

Englishmum

I had a couple of friends who had boyfriends based at the US air base in Upper Heyford (and subsequently married them) and as I had a car and they didn't I would sometimes drive down there from Coventry and go to the dances on a Saturday night. I thought it was fun to have to change my pounds into US $ and had my first-ever Budweiser and Michelob beers there before they were available in English pubs. It was also interesting to be able to buy American candy too. It was very odd that I could just drive up to the entrance and be waved in without any ID checks whatsoever.

I did date a couple of the airmen for a while and one of them was an air traffic controller. Incredibly he took me on a tour of the air base including going into the aircraft hangars. We went right up to the planes - I think they were the F1-11s which carried the bombs. Not once were we challenged or questioned... I was astonished at the time as this was during the period that all of the peace campaigners were protesting against the Cruise missiles at Greenham Common (nr Newbury) and chaining themselves to the fence. (My weird sister-in-law actually lived on a camp outside Greenham Common for seven years when she was in her lesbian phase - now she is a Green Witch).....

Bob

isn't that the bicester market? could never remember what it was called anyway *l*

Partystar

I totally believe it, my mum didn't know anybody up there & they just waved us on! It wasn't as easy as that on our base, although it was still pretty lax, until 9/11, then it was a little less lax - never consistant!

TaffyinOK

If you are interested, there's a great website about Upper Haystack.

It's: http://www.raf-upper-heyford.org

It is sad that the base had to close. I have very fond memories of the place - it's where I met my now ex-husband.

Friends in Guthrie huh? The older I get, the smaller the world becomes. I wonder if I know them?

Partystar

Yeah, I've seen that website before, but thanx for reminding me of it. It's still so sad to see it all run down, I didn't know about the bowling alley being knocked down, that must have a happened around the time I left England.

My friends that live in Guthrie are the Hayes family, ring any bells?