Recently, one of the town council candidates wrote in an election bulletin that “Abingdon is a vibrant, bustling town.” A letter to the Abingdon Herald said the candidate “must wear rose-tinted spectacles“.

The candidate replied “As the laboratory manager for an independent local optician, I pride myself on my ability to tint quality prescription lenses. I don’t wear rose-tinted sunglasses: for spring, I like light brown.” He went on to say ” Abingdon is no ghost town. It’s alive and it has a healthy heart.” Now somebody has left a comment ” Healthy Heart maybe but all the arteries are blocked.”

Anyway, now for an experiment, can I ask you to look at the picture above of a tree in St Helens Court, first without spectacles.

Now look at it with rose-tinted spectacles, and you will see a deep fissure up the side. The bark and trunk has split and the tree is dieing on this near side. I would argue that rose-tinted spectacles should not be so maligned.

We do enjoy our white arrows here in Abingdon.

Some shops fronts just want to get noticed. They want to be centre stage

or upstage the competition.

Others have a more subtle way about them,

and still got noticed.

During a lunchtime visit to the Vine Inn in Cumnor, my attention was taken by a large silver trophy that had pride of place on the mantle of what was once a large fireplace. The trophy is the Abingdon Invitation Cribbage Cup.

Cribbage is a pub game that ranks up there in popularity with darts and Aunt Sally. You will hear players saying things like ’15 two and fours a pair’ as they move pegs round a board.

There is a league of pubs and clubs from Abingdon and surrounding villages that compete for this trophy. Previous winners (before the Vine) include The Prince of Wales at Shippon, and the Saxton Arms in Abingdon.