The clocks went forward an hour last night and we are now in British Summer Time. Somebody did move the hands on the big clock at St Helen’s Church even though they did not ring the bell.

I loaded the service sheets up to the Trinity Church Web Site on Friday evening so that people could worship together while apart if they wished.

Last night we forgot to turn the clock on and so would have joined the service late. But it didn’t matter today.

There is an old saying that the church is the people and not the building, and so this picture gives an idea what Trinity Church looked like this Sunday Morning. Some people are not on it because they come from places further afield such as: Sutton Courtenay, Dorchester, North Leigh, Tubney, Longworth, Oxford, and Wantage (source August 2016 Trinity Directory).

Diana sent me this picture of a rainbow and toys seen at the town end of the Radley Road.

There are also some rainbows down East St Helen Street. Here is one in one of the oldest houses in Abingdon.

Here is another from a house very close to St Helen’s Church.

It is a week since the churches and schools closed down. So keep safe and be kind to each other.

Martin Buckland took this picture of the A34 at 15.30 on Friday 27th March 2020 when in normal times both lanes would be full going north, either with slow-moving or stationary traffic. It was taken from the Sunningwell bridleway bridge and Martin had to wait till there was traffic to photograph. Most of it was lorries.

On our exercise walk today we first crossed the Market Place to post a letter in the outside box rather than going into the Co-op. That was about midday.

We headed down Bridge Street for a walk along the Thames Path and back by the Causeway.

A rope cordon had been put round one boat with the notice ‘Due to Corona – Please Respect Boaters Space.”

All except one deckchair had been collapsed as it was much colder than the previous few days and nobody was sitting outside.

The path towards Culham was a little busier than usual with people out for a walk. Most people maintained a safe distance on passing..

From the causeway we could see a tractor going back and forth across a wide field, preparing the ground for next summer’s crop. We are reminded how important food production is after the experience of wide scale empty supermarket shelves.

I was also sent a list of national job opportunities showing there is a lot of work available in the NHS, supermarkets, warehouses, delivery services, and care homes. Some jobs are temporary during the current pandemic, and some permanent. I expect the farmers will soon also need a hand to help pick crops.

The postmen and women no longer take your signature but sign the screen themselves. Another delivery person took a photo of a parcel, on our door step by my feet, as proof of delivery.

The milkman continues to drop off our milk, but because so many people have signed up recently, Milk & More stopped new registrations and can no longer guarantee to deliver the milk before 4 am. Their aim now is ‘to get all deliveries out before the end of each delivery day. In the instance that we can’t deliver to you, we will email you.’

There was the 8pm applause for NHS workers today. My wife said there were some people outside their doors in West St Helen Street clapping. I had the strange experience of being in a village soon after 8pm. Round the winding village street, people were standing outside their front gates applauding. Any NHS person would have felt like royalty, so let me pass on that applause to any NHS person reading this.

Watch any TV drama / soap and it looks like some bygone age. Not only do they not obey the 2 meter rule, but they go to the pub, touch handles with their hands and then put their hands near their mouths.

In Abingdon there are strips of tape to help peoples keep to the 2 meter rule in many places. These strips are for customers waiting to go into the Coventry Building Society at the top of East St Helen Street.

It was a sunny day and we went for our exercise walk in the area between Barton Fields and Radley Lakes. We saw very few people but did meet Jan Morter (ex Abingdon Mayor) and kept the 2 meter rule. We also met some other people coming through a narrower path, beside the Thames, and dived into the undergrowth – to avoid getting too close.

Here is the view out of our window in day 2 of the lockdown. The rest of our household stayed in today, working from home, but I was at work doing support work, I got involved doing shopping on behalf of two houses for people who need to stay at home. Both Sainsburys in Didcot and Tesco in Abingdon were fairly well stocked, and not busy so it was not a problem to keep a social distance.

While out and about I was surprised how many other people were out cycling, or walking, as their daily exercise in the sun. It did not feel like a lockdown.

Back home there was a postcard from Emma and a phone number offering to help if we were self isolating. An Abingdon group have tried to cover all of Abingdon with this offer of this important help.

On the news it was said that 405,000 people have signed up in 24 hours to volunteer with the NHS after a recruitment drive to help the vulnerable amid the coronavirus crisis,