June 2011 Slideshow with Robin and Bells
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Near the end of blooming June
At the start of June a lot of the town’s public flowers beds had nothing but raked soil. But now at the end of June they are all planted and we had sunshine today.
This flat flower looks a little more interesting this year – not just the uniform bedding plants but also a small tree and spikey foliage.
The Guildhall is looking better, and this trailer beneath the window of the Mayor’s parlour is a more interesting feature.
There is the usual display at St Helen’s Wharf. It looks good from the river and from the road but it is the same every year. Needs lots of watering in today’s hot weather.
In the formal gardens of the Abbey Gardens there is also a fairly typical arrangement. I do wonder what would happen if the creative expertise of our town’s flower shops was unleashed on the town’s flower beds.
Abingdon’s Got Talent 2011
Abingdon’s Got Talent was great fun as always. Here are two sisters performing Sisters.
There was a good crowd to see the 19 performances – I am not sure why the number of entries was down on last year but it meant that the heats and final were all rolled into one.
My son was supposed to be performing and had set out to write a rap about a notorious female hanging in the Old Gaol but it proved too ambitious. He was replaced by a very good ballet dancer, and there was a band called ‘No Fear.’
The compere was excellent as were many of the acts and the judges …
this year were … The Mayor, Mike Badcock … The Leader of Abingdon Town Band, Steve Rich … Local BBC News Reader, Geraldine Peers … Retired School Drama Teacher and Amateur Dramatic Impresario, Eileen Bagshaw … and BBC Script writer / Editor, Paul Mayhew Archer.
The winner in the under 18s category was this young lady, singing and playing the guitar.
The winner in the over 18s category was a very good Irish Dancer. He started dancing at a very early age …
“Michael Flatley, eat your heart out!”
My first clear image of a water vole (or rat)
I have always admired some of the other Abingdon Blogs.
Take Views of the Ock. When that blog started, the blogger was elated after weeks of searching to get an indistinct blurred image of a water vole (I think they are also called water rats). Images got better and better until now the blogger seems able to find them at will, and has gone on to find other creatures like otters.
Today I saw my first water vole in the Margaret Brown Gardens, then almost immediately I saw five others. They scurried away, one down the riverside, the other five under the lavender.You can just see one cautiously peeping out to see if it is safe yet.
He / she then came out a bit further…
Then finally came into full view. My first clear image of a water vole (or is it a rat?). Just to add “Many people, including pest controllers, builders and developers, mistake the endangered water vole for the brown rat and accidentally poison them”