Thursday 1 September 2022

Train Ride To Oxford And Difficulty Paying Cash.

The usually lush dreamy spires gardens looked like Portuguese gardens in Oxford City.


 The festival finished rather oddly on the Saturday.  So next morning at  after a large breakfast and a couple of pints of Doombar at nine in the morning  we headed to the train station and bought single tickets to Oxford.  

On arrival in Oxford we walked to the city centre and looked for Tourist Information.  A very helpful man in one of the civic buildings drew us some circles on a map on places we wished to visit and pointed us in the direction of a campsite in the suburbs. Apparently the Tourist Information  closed down?

We walked a few miles and noticed a Travelodge.  We decided to see if they could accommodate us for the night.  The very nice lady on the desk said she could and for a very reasonable price.  We began to fill in the form on the website on my phoneand I encountered a problem that it didn't recognise Irish post codes and surprise surprise.  They couldn't accept CASH!  

Her male colleague came from the back and some how managed to get round the postcode problem.  I had to ring my wife in Ireland and she rang Travelodge who put her through to the man on reception.  A few minutes later J paid for the room.  This was the first problem we had that day with contact less payments.  The Travelodge staff were so helpful and couldn't do enough for us.  Thank you both so much!  If you are ever near Abingdon Road in Oxford check in at the Travelodge there.  

Later that day we walked into an ex Anglican church which was now a wine bar with no beer taps.  I ordered two bottles of lager and they took off the caps and informed me that they didn't take cash!  Fortunately I had my son's Revolut card and I managed to pay for our drinks.  I had other contact less payment problems at a a campsite in Canterbury.  Stop the world I want to get off! You don't have contactless payments in northern England or over here in Ireland.  What happened to cash being king?

22 comments:

  1. I have never been to Oxford, it is not an easy place to get to via trains from Norfolk. I would like to go. When my friends came up from Brighton to meet me in Cambridge last year they also had problems with making cash payments and they don't carry cards. Big problems at almost every establishment they went to, including pubs.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We went from Oxford to Paddington Rachel. Then by tube takings Cross and St Pancras and on to Canterbury on the Monday. You would like Oxford very much. Please watch this space for my blog about literary connections in Oxford Rachel. We found it very frustrating not to be able to use cash. I don't know how businesses survive without some cash customers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That all sounds very frustrating. I had read rumours about cash being phased out but assumed it was all just that - rumours. Does not bode well does it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No it doesn't JayCee. The people in the church/pub said contactless payments are left over from the Covid crisis and most businesses in Oxford liked contactless payments. You just tap your card and they handle nothing. It all goes in to the bank. I prefer cash.

      Delete
  4. Are Revolut cards given to people who are preparing for a revolution? If so I would like one along with a Chieftain tank. First we take Oxford then old London town.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think I would like my own bin wagon and a rock pub. A revolution sounds a good idea YP.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Are you saying they took the caps off the bottles first and then informed you they don't take cash. I wonder what they would have done if you had no other form of payment.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes they did Tasker. The exact same thoughts went through my head. The World is getting so much difficult to deal with. I often wonder how old people manage who have never used cards to pay for things.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Norway was like that (cashless business) when i worked there in 2017. I was stunned. I'm even more stunned to see a low wave of cashlessness sweeping across Greece (now you know the world is heading for Armageddon) - post covidness might reverse that. We enjoyed your tales from Blasket Isles. Never knew they existed until last month, and might have to visit now to add to a list of places visited that other people are unlikely to have ever heard of. Keep up the travel log.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for the blog writing encouragement Tigger. Technology is evolving into people less financial transactions. Even airports and train stations have machines devoid of ticket clerks and you have to place your ticket in the machine for a green arrow to open the exit. I don't like it I'm human and want to communicate with humans not machines. Glad you liked the Blasket Isles.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I always say to people that you must pay in cash as much as possible. They 'above us all' want a cashless society so that they can trace our every movement and have complete control of our money. Imagine, you will not be able to have any money indoors or 'under the bed' it will be useless. They will be able to stop your account any time without your consent.. I could go on.
    OR maybe I am just a conspiracy theorist, lol
    Briony
    x

    ReplyDelete
  11. Totally agree Briony. There won't be any carboot sales or bartering going on. Like Tigger says it's the road to Armageddon. 666 will be the number on our plastic cards or even our foreheads for a bar code. You speak very wise words. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I try and pay for everything with cash. Today handed over £50 for petrol, £35 in Aldi, and £50 in Home Bargains. If I want to go over the Humber Bridge I have to pull up close to the paybox, lean out of the window and put my debit card into the machine and punch in the number. I don't have contactless. What was wrong with chucking £1.50 in a bucket.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am in total agreement with you Meanqueen. I have often walked in high street shops and asked how much is the television, carpet..., for cash? They have often given a discount. Cash use to be king or queen. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I guess that I've never run into that scenario before. It would have been very frustrating.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Immensely frustrating Debby. We could easily have had to wild camp in Canterbury.

      Delete
  15. Everyone except actual customers want to do away with cash. It saves them money.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Heavens, what a nightmare. We of course too are encouraged to pay with cards so that transactions go through to the tax dept too. Tax evasion used to be a national game here. But everyone takes cash as well. More likely to take cash than cards....still. I always pay for Petro, coffee, bread with cash.

    ReplyDelete
  17. No taking your till contents to the bank or paying your accountant.

    ReplyDelete
  18. It was like welcome to my nightmare. We felt like we had entered a different world. Very very odd. Thanks Linda.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I hate the way the world is going. I find myself playing happy songs from the early 1970's to prevent myself from going mad! After the pandemic our local garden centre stopped taking cash. They said it was due to them getting robbed but they never went back to cash again. It is so frustrating when you have cash to use but they won't take it.

    ReplyDelete
  20. You sound like me Simone. I don't like the modern music on the radio. I have paid for things with a load of bruss or copper and silver before today. Shops use to be glad of the change!

    ReplyDelete

Bank Holiday Carboot Antiques Hunt.

 It's a Bank Holiday here in Ireland giving everyone a day off after Saint Patrick's Day. The weather forecast was not good but we s...