We went for a walk on Monday evening, and I took a picture of Abingdon Bridge. There was sunshine behind and dark clouds ahead. North Abingdon had a downpour, and South Abingdon got little or no rain.
On the walk we saw that Fabulous Flowers were set to reopen on Tuesday with a flower display over the door.
Parking rules must be tightening up again. On Lombard Street, all the parked cars had a Police Notice stuck to the windscreen.
Waitrose were handing out umbrellas for people in the queue. At the very end of April, the month is trying to make up for all the missing April Showers with one downpour .
With the shopping I got an Abingdon Herald. On page 22 is a message from the editor.The Herald has been hit hard by the lockdown in sales and advertising revenue. During the next six weeks they offer free delivery.
For May Morning (Friday, 1st May), Rotary Abingdon planned to have a choir singing on top of the Abingdon County Hall and a May Pole in the Market Place. This is postponed until 2021.
The large event in Oxford, that attracts thousand of people, has also been cancelled. However Oxford are having a virtual May Morning. People can join in by tagging their own social media posts with #MayMorning .
From 6am on May Morning you can see a Virtual May Morning live stream featuring: The Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford Horns of Plenty, Oxford University Morris Dancers, John Otway, and many more. The Choir of Magdalen College have recorded their parts individually, and through modern technology will be singing together. I don’t know how the Morris Dancers will dance together while apart.
Since the introduction of GDPR many regional USA websites have closed access to the UK saying ‘We recognize you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which enforces the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore access cannot be granted at this time.’
So it is not quite so easy to stay up to date with what is happening in Abingdon, Virginia. I have found the following news about the recent storms and floods and coronavirus pandemic from 2 days ago …
Mon April 13th 2020
Washington County, Virginia. is under a state of emergency due to severe storm damage, and widespread flooding.
Fire crews were conducting a water rescue on Woodby Lane in Abingdon on Monday morning after flooding in the area caused residents to evacuate.
Residents of apartments on Henderson Court in Abingdon, Virginia were evacuated after overnight rains caused flooding in the area.
Coronavirus Pandemic
Mon April 13th 2020
As part of efforts to ensure the wellbeing of the community, the Town of Abingdon will be closing its offices.
All playground facilities and pavilions with picnic tables are not available for the time being due to the coronavirus concerns. Outdoor pavilion reservations for sites owned by the Town are discontinued.
Other parks that are public are staying open with normal operating conditions as long as visitors follow proper social distancing guidelines.
An Abingdon glass company is supplying several hospitals in the region with an extra layer of protection from the coronavirus. Leann Meadows, owner and operator of Highlands Glass Co., said when she opened her residential and commercial business more than 10 years ago, she never dreamed she would be helping to save lives one day.
Following Storm Dennis, the level of the River Ock is at its highest level for several years. Data from https://riverlevels.uk/ock-abingdon-on-thames-abingdon-ock shows the last time it was this high, and higher, was 2014.
Water was spilling onto the lower road at Tesco today but not flooding much of the car park.
Property flooding is not currently expected. Although water has got close to some of the gardens on the Ladygrove Estate.
The Ladygrove Meadow Play Area is under water during half term week,
together with the exercise machines on the trim trail.
Flooding of low-lying land, and footpaths is expected to continue with river levels remaining high over the coming days.
The Environment Agency requests people to remain safe and aware of your local surroundings and avoid contact with flood water.
Meanwhile tree surgeons and roofers have been kept busy around Abingdon. The wind was not as strong as Storm Ciara (one week before), but there was a lot more rain.