This is one of the new Riverside houses across the Abbey millstream at about 7:15 A.M this morning.

This is the view from the bridge along the Thames to St Helens Church, steeple half-caked in snow.

These are just some trees by the river.

And somebody who lives on a barge wheeling their bike through the snow.

A bike covered in snow at the Market Place.

The County Hall and Market Place at about 8 A.M

At about midday, some students who had been let off college had made snowmen in the the grounds of the The Kings Head and Bell. Most schoools were out and so there were running snowball fights on the streets of Abingdon.

Anybody living is Oxford will know of the area called Mesopotania (middle of water), where the path leads between two divisions of the River Cherwell to the University Park. Well, Abingdon has its own Mesopotania. It is called the Ock Valley Walk , and it has a brand new Nature board showing the flora and fauna you might find.

The education board has been some time coming, and has had a few re-designs, but now it is there and includes lots of wildlife. One lady commented this morning, “It also excludes a lot of wildlife.”

Someone else complained that we did not need a board to tell us what is a willow.

At the bottom it says “Leave only footprints. Take only photographs”

This looks to me like a relative of Treebeard. Treebeard is the oldest of the Ents in Lord of the Rings. Ents are treelike creatures that shepherd the other trees and do battle with the evil wizard Sauraman. This Treebeard-like specimen is to be found in Albert Park.

At St Helens Wharf the trees are well clipped and regimented.

Along Park Road in front of Abingdon School a line of evenly spaced trees could soon loose one of their number. There is a notice pinned to the nearest tree asking you to watch out because it is possibly unstable. We had strong winds over a week ago…

… and some trees did not survice. This Silver Birch near the entrance to the Ock Mini Park (by the double roundabout) had to be chopped in ’07.’

I went to at the Abbey Centre, off Audlett Drive, last night. The Abbey Centre was a building specifically built for the learning disabled, but times have moved on, and most now live in the community. This is Linda blowing out the candles.