After experiencing the festive sound of the bagpipes in Cornmarket Street, I turned left into St Michael's Street and found myself, once again, in Arcadia.
For those of you not familiar with one of Oxford's hidden gems, the small shop sells tasteful nostalgic calendars, postcards and notebooks and most importantly, old books.
I failed to make it inside the store before I spotted a Penguin Modern Classic I wanted on a bookshelf in the doorway.
It was Cyril Connolly's The Rock Pool. First published in Paris in 1936, it was considered too obscene to be published in this country until 1947, and the Penguin edition I acquired for £1 was published in 1963. As you can imagine, I am intrigued and looking forward to reading it.
The plot features a mediocre young literary man from Oxford, with a comfortable regular income, who spends the summer on the Riviera with an artists' and writer's colony. Now that rings a vague bell.
In the New Year, I shall be looking out for The Lives of Bill Deedes by Stephen Robinson, Flat Earth News by Nick Davies, a Newcastle-based novel called Crusaders by Richard T. Kelly and the JG Ballard autobiography, Miracles of Life: From Shanghai to Shepperton.
I know these Christmas lists in the papers are somehow uninspiring, but if you have any recommendations, do let me know.