There seemed to be more rides this year – than last year – at the runaway fair.

The weather has been good. So hopefully the show people and the punters had a good afternoon and evening.

With the road closure, it is funny seeing buses unload their passengers at strange places like the Kings Head and Bell. And it’s funny to see the upper deck of double deckers sail by our 1st floor window.

It only happens when
She comes again.
Our little runaway,
run, run, run, runaway.

These days, children’s rides are the main feature of the Runaway Fair that runs on the Monday of the week after the Michaelmas Fair.

In days of old the Michaelmas and Runaway fairs were both hiring fairs. As late as 1884 the Reading Mercury noted there was still some hiring activity at the Abingdon Runaway Fair.

In 1888, the same paper reported that during the “runaway” fair a 71 year old man from Ock Street was killed by a runaway driver.

We read in the same paper in 1897 that little hiring was noticeable, but country people came into town for Michaelmas purchases, and for a fair on the Market Place.

Tuesday was the second evening of the fair.

There was not quite the crush of some years, but still a lot of people about. The mild rain-free evenings help to bring in the crowds.

Rides like Booster (pictured), and the high swings at the end of Ock Street, meant this was not only the longest street fair,

but also one of the tallest. Air traffic control could well have been notified.

I did not notice any trouble, apart from the occasional person being sick after have been spun about too fast.

Fairground music is still reverberating from the centre of town to the outer limits. Within an hour or so all will become quiet, and by the time people set off for work tomorrow morning there will be no sign that the fair was ever there.

High Street and Ock Street were closed from this morning for the setup of the fair. Locals came to walk and cycle and scoot the length of the fair to see the rides.

Let us hope the good weather holds out and that it will be good fair with no accidents. The best advice, if you chance to enter the maze of mirrors, is ‘walk slow with hands in front of you’.

Stay young at heart and believe that dreams can come true, but never forget there are pirates about.

Don’t bang your head getting into the Minion Tour bus.

The world is your teacup.

Should your fairground horse escape enjoy the free ride.