Most people, who are part of the residents parking scheme, in the town centre, will have an out of date parking permit. The Town Council Office, down Bridge Street, has not been open to allow people to renew their permit since the March lockdown last year. An out of date permit is therefore allowed.

The Broad Face were serving beers and burgers to takeaway. Some people were drinking their beer overlooking the River along Bridge Street.

There were fewer people this afternoon looking at the water levels now they are going down.

The government’s flood warning information site shows the river level over the last 5 days. The highest recorded by the monitoring station was on 9th January 2014.

The site https://floodassist.co.uk/river-data/gauges/oxfordshire/1503th-level-downstage-i-15_min-masd/abingdon-lock shows the last 2 weeks and how the river level rose on Christmas Day and peaked on Boxing Day.

Yesterday morning Philip sent me a picture of a couple of boats wedged on Nags Head Island. They floated downstream after loosing their moorings on Saturday night. One is the pirate boat.

On Sunday there were a lot of people about near the River Thames in Abingdon. Some were watching the emergency vehicles on Abingdon Bridge and St Helen’s Wharf. The fire engine at St Helen’s Wharf launched a couple of rescue boats.

This morning I went for an early walk – there were already quite a few people out and about. The water level is now going down, but too late for one boat  moored at Nags Head Island.

Ice had begun to form overnight. The air felt cold and damp. My wife said that one of her friends on Facebook in Abingdon had seen snow.

The walk took me over Abingdon Weir.

There has been progress on the new steel boat layby. The old wooden layby has been used during previous floods to secure a couple of boats, including one of those now wedged against Nags Head Island.

The paths and road on the other side were mostly underwater. I returned back over the weir with dry feet.

Oxfordshire went into Covid-19 tier four today. Under tier four, non-essential shops, gyms, hairdressers and indoor entertainment venues must close. This meant that Boxing Day Sales could not go ahead at Fatface.

The traditional Boxing Day MG gathering on the Market Place was also missing.

Water levels continued to rise during Christmas Day. By Boxing Day, anybody out for a walk round Abingdon could not complete a circular walk as the return path was underwater.

People were struggling with boats. Some were banging pegs into firmer ground.

Others were adjusting ropes to get the boat level.

In Rye Farm Car Park some unfortunate car owners will have found their cars underwater.

Flood tourists came to see the floods in Abingdon.

The new flood prevention wall near St Helen’s Mill may have stopped water flowing in from the banks, but  water had welled up some other way.

A section of St Helen’s Wharf in Abingdon has been secured with barriers. Nothing much can be seen from that side.

A view from the opposite bank shows that part of the retaining wall has been washed away following recent floods.