The tradition dates from before 1880 and of course, there has to be some sense of rivalry with Cambridge as there is debate over the “correct end” to punt from; both use the pole to steer but the tradition at Oxford is to punt from inside the boat rather than on top of the till (or box).

Either way, it can be incredibly romantic and you often see couples floating along, primarily with the guy at the helm trying to show off. (The only slight issue is that Cherwell has a tendency to be very muddy at places, and more-often-than-not, you see some poor punter glide away with their pole still stuck in the bottom; making a less impressive impression on the young ladies). Saying that, if you avoid the slalom zigzag style that most new users take on, you can get up quite a pace. It certainly brings a whole new meaning to the phrase speed dating in Oxford!

I took my nephew for a trip down the river when he came to stay. He has been lucky enough to get an offer from Oxford University, so he wanted to coma and have a look around. He really enjoyed it, and I think he really got a flavour for the city during his trip.

A big wheel, in Oxford??! I know that tourism drives the local economy and that it’s proved a success in some places, but I really am not a huge fan of this idea.

We have a fantastic city, inspirational spires and beautiful architecture. I just think a big wheel cheapens it all, no matter what anyone says about the “wonderful views” there will be. I can just about cope with St Giles Fair but at least that’s only for a couple of days, whereas these big wheel plans are for November – January.

It will also be interesting to see what impact it has on the current tourist attractions in Oxford. The top five activities at the moment stand at:

• Castle Unlocked
• Carfax Tower
• Walking tours
• Open top bus tours
• Christ Church

Can anyone ever see the big wheel topping these charts?

I know that big cities such as London and Manchester have tehse wheels, but I’m not sure that the historical nature of Oxford tourism really lends itslef to a big wheel. It’s not like we have a great deal of skyscapers anyway. I much rather looking at buildings from the ground anyway, rather tahn at great heights. I must admitthough that I have a slight fear of heights, and wouldn’t venture onto the wheel even if it does get built. I think tehre will be quite a lot of objections to the wheel if the plans do go ahead.