This first picture of a degradable Tesco plastic carrier bag was taken on the 10th November 2008. It had got trodden into a pathway.

Six weeks on, and the bag is looking thinner. Degradable plastic bags have chemicals added to make them break down over time. Its not quite the same as bio-degradable, but who’s to know the difference?

This narrow boat got stuck on the shoal on the wrong side of the buoy, but with a bit of rocking and then pushing with a pole they managed to get out of trouble.

Canoeists were tempted by the Boxing Day white water at Abingdon Weir…

The guy with the beard looks to be there in case his companion gets into difficulties

For a moment he watches closely…

but then the other canoeist rights himself.

The Abingdon MG Works centre web site says: “Blow away the cobwebs with the 14th annual Boxing Day Run starting from Abingdon Market Square. £5 per car – 50 car limit.” The rally reached that limit.

I met a couple from Little Rock, Arkansas, photographing the cars. The man was originally from Abingdon, and his wife was from the States, and they were over here to visit his parents over Christmas. They had been photographing the river when they saw a number of vintage cars converging on Abingdon. On closer inspection they met the owners of this car who he knew from days gone by.

The MG works web site continues ‘a chance of taking to the lanes of Oxfordshire with hoods down where possible. Classics (like horses and some people), enjoy this chance to get a bit of winter air rather than being couped up in the garage with dehumidified air being pumped into plastic preservation chambers, or whatever the ‘collectors’ do with them while they themselves sit in front of the fire dreaming of the accrued value.’

Not all the MGs were vintage but it is always good to see them all in Abingdon , the spiritual home of the MG car. The more recent ones were made in the factories of Cowley and Longbridge.

Click here: to see the card itself from me to you. It represents somebody being given a goat on your behalf to help them get started.