Ah, Cambridge…

What can I say about Cambridge? It’s so very different from Newcastle that I don’t know where to start. Some of the things I’m listing pertain to my new and old neighborhoods specifically, but I think they’re characteristic.

Some things I notice that I like:

• It’s full of Italians.
• I can get to London in 45 minutes, which means I can attend Polyphony Down the Pub on occasion. (And a senior off-peak day return ticket costs only £16.40.)
• It’s full of bicycles, and the infrastructure facilitates them. (When I’m fully back on my feet I may buy one.)
• They recycle just about everything. Including food waste.
• The colleges at the university are gorgeous.
• The bus fare machines don’t spit out a useless paper ticket if you’ve used a pass.
• There are a lot of local greengrocers and other shops with fruit/veg on display outside.
• It’s easy to get good Chinese food without paying through the nose.
• It’s awash in science. Science parks, science campuses, research organisations…
• The river is puntable. Haven’t done it yet but am considering it.
• It has a rather intellectual atmosphere, to some extent.
• It should have more early music. I haven’t found it yet, but I’m told it’s there. Once I’ve got my impending new hip in and working well…
• Pubs are reasonably likely to serve Aspall cyder. It is close to Suffolk, after all…
• It doesn’t have a seriously ugly part right in the city centre. (Newcastle peeps, you know I’m referring to the eastern side of Pilgrim Street and that general area, and you know it’s true.)
• It has a bustling outdoor market right in the city centre. Seven days a week.
• My neighborhood is not nearly as swarming with students as my Newcastle neighborhood was (which is less now than it used to be). My next-door neighbors on both sides are very nice, and we have good conversations. Some things in common.
• My office and officemates are nearby.

Some things I notice that I don’t like:

• They recycle food waste. Which means we have to hang onto it for two weeks until they come around and empty the green bin.
• It’s not very well served by public buses. Not compared with Newcastle, anyway.
• It’s despairingly flat. People tell me it will grow on me and I must visit the fens. Stay tuned.
• There is no castle.
• The surrounding area has almost no ruined castles or abbeys.
• There is no indoor market. (I quickly got spoiled by Grainger Market.)
• Although there are some impressive churches, there is no cathedral. For that you have to go to Ely. (Which I plan to do fairly soon.)
• There is no river gorge with several impressive bridges crossing it — the Cam River is not very wide and its banks are low. (Don’t even think of bringing up the Bridge of Sighs. I’ve been to Venice. Several times.)
• It’s swarming with bicycles. When I’m driving, this makes me just a teeny bit nervous.
• There are a lot of modern, sterile apartment buildings.
• The Apple Store has a long waiting list for Genius Bar appointments.
• There aren’t any back lanes where they could put community bins or even make it easier to put out our wheelie bins. We have to drag the wheelie bins around to the front, find a place to put them amidst the squeezed-in parked cars, and then drag them back around to the back.
• The water is rather hard. Every time I go back north, I am reminded of how much my hair likes the water there.
• My neighborhood doesn’t have parking permits. Sometimes I have to park in the next block or even on the next street over.
• It gets HOT here. Last September I was here for a few days when the high temperature was 34C (93F). Whew!
• It takes a lot longer to get to a decent airport. (I don’t count as decent any airport that’s served mostly by Ryanair.)
• It almost never snows here, they tell me, other than a light dusting.
• It takes a bit of effort to get to the coast, and even more to get to any hills to speak of.
• Much less active local RSA chapter.
• And of course — it’s expensive. I’m paying roughly twice the rent I paid in Newcastle, for an unfurnished place that has slightly more room inside (and admittedly a large-ish back garden). Asking prices of houses for sale are even more out of line.

This list is probably biased by the fact that I’ve just spent a weekend in Newcastle and had a day out in Northumberland. Once I’m really settled in — substantially recovered from hip surgery and able to move reasonably well again (which includes being able to finish unpacking from my move) — I’m sure that my increased ability to explore will increase the size of my positive list. I’ll post further impressions as the mood strikes me.