Man of the world.... but living in Cambridge. Maddening (rather than maddeningly well-read), and wit...
Man of the world.... but living in Cambridge. Maddening (rather than maddeningly well-read), and with a disgustingly low body-fat percentage. Nice guy too, allegedly. Liable to be reviewing films, music, books and places. 19/07/09 OOTBBLPD. TBBIEK. MP.
Member since:27.10.2007
Reviews:67
Members who trust:105
Allow me, as a resident of the fair city of Cambridge, to take you on a journey.
Let's start, where a lot of people start, on The Backs. Now, to heathens such as I, this is "a bit of grass leading down to a river", and as such the need to travel halfway round the world to view it is a bit lost on me. But even I must concede that on the right sort of day, the view over the river to Kings CollegeChapel, meisterwork of Gothic architecture that it is, is a bit on the special side. Let's walk on down to the Silver Street Bridge, soundtracked by the birds in the trees and the punters (as in people on punts, not kerb crawlers) sipping Pimms and occasionally falling in if you're lucky. Here we'll turn left, into the heart of the University area of the City. The buildings glower over the narrow pavements, and academia seems almost tangible (especially when an academic unable to ride a bike runs into you).
Another turn south leads into Trumpington Street. The pavements widen and, to paraphrase Clive James, the gutters are larger than your average canal. We walk past the lovely Greek folly that is the Fitzwilliam Museum. The buildings become more Edwardian (but still grand). We could keep going down Trumpington Street, past the Botanical Gardens and the Leys: but let's turn left down Lensfield Road instead. We arrive at the fancifully named Hyde Park Corner, with its lovely church and the splendid municipal grassland of Parker's Piece directly in front. We go right, down the arrow-straightness of Hills Road, past the war memorial at the start of Station Road, and out of town.
The first sign that something's gone a bit wrong is the railway bridge you walk over; it looks like Morrissey could sing about something dire and teenage happening beneath it. Still, up ahead is another nice avenue of trees...but you have to turn left. And left again. A few minutes of disappointed trudging will bring you to an anonymous industrial estate, wherein lurks The Junction. And there you were, thinking Cambridge was nothing but dreaming spires. (That's Oxford anyway, but you get my drift).
The Junction is Cambridge's "second" multi-arts venue, and can be considering a smidge less conservative and a tad more interesting than the larger, "waiting room for the next life" Corn Exchange. Extensively refitted and augmented (as part of the large Cattle Market development) in the last few years, it has three venues on site; the main Junction 1 largely for club or live music nights (not bad, occasionally a sonic nightmare, capacity 850-1050), Junction 2 for drama, small-scale dance and comedy (a very good, intimate room, capacity 220), and Junction 4 for rehearsals and workshops.
The diversity of music acts calling in is quite impressive, likewise the comedy performers. As for the club nights..... well, Cambridge only consititutes "a great night out" for anyone who's never been out anywhere else, so they aren't bad if you temper your expectations! The last time I attended the dreaded "Boogie Wonderland" on Friday night, I was propositioned by a 16 year old girl. I was 32 at the time. It's that sort of place. (And for crying out loud, of course I bloody well didn't.)
The site is quite convenient for Cambridge Station (and will be even better when they bother building a bridge so you don't have to walk all the way round the railway: it's about 400 yards as the crow flies, and a mile on foot), if a bit less handy for the town centre. Its dowdy location is probably down to the University (who own most of the land in the city) not wanting anything remotely as tacky as an arts venue anywhere prominent (unless it's an arts venue doing nothing but productions of the Canterbury Tales). But that can be balanced against all the other amenities close at hand: restaurants (although nothing aimed at the more discerning gastronome, shall we say), bars (ditto: these are the sort of places where karaoke is still seen as "cool" and "relevant"), cinema (multiplex), bowling alley etc.
Parking is rarely a problem; a multistorey is near at hand, but the canny will simply drive into the fastnesses of the estate and park for free at the roadside (not in the car parks of the in-situ companies, at least not during office hours). I've been doing that for years, and there's never been a problem.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Advantages: peace quiet and lots of good advice. Disadvantages: high ceiling means the room gets a little cold in febuary(hope its not the same in summer....)
very helpful by (54%):
helpful by (46%):
