There have been three warm sunny days in Abingdon. It has started to feel like Spring is here a bit early. The sky looked so blue over the Guildhall and the new grass so green on Roysse Court. Which reminds me it is Guildhall Open weekend 10:00am to 6:00pm.

More sunshine making a dazzle at Abingdon Bridge.

Some school children arrived back in Abingdon late in the afternoon, with a placard, after their school strike and big protest march in Oxford about the future of the planet. Looking at the reports there could have been 1500 taking part in Oxford, one of 60 marches. One slogan read ‘There is no Planet B’.

The London Plane trees either side of Conduit Road in Abingdon have not been pollarded (cut back) for about 15 years.

One tree has been singled out and pollarded, and so the rest will probably follow. Pollarding involves removing the upper branches of the tree, and is often done to Plane trees to restrict their growth.

Andrew Rowe did a tweet yesterday that made me think. …

At Added Ingredients in Abingdon you can bring your old containers (so long as you know how much they contain) to the refill stations, and refill and re-label the container. Products shown are:
* Non-bio Laundry liquid
* Fabric conditioner
* Washing-up liquid

The detergents are supplied by Sesi – a social enterprise in Oxford, who deliver the tubs to the shop and collect the empty tubs to reuse them.

They were introduced after the Abingdon Cuts Plastic campaign launched in March 2018 with the help of Abingdon Carbon Cutters.

Other ideas for cutting down on packaging in the new year which I ought to be doing:
* Buy loose fruit and veg where possible
* Think ahead and take my own cutlery, water bottle, shopping bag, or coffee cup.

You may have other useful suggestions.

On Saturday 5th January there was a New Year Litter Pick round the perimeter of Tesco organised by Helen Flynn‎ of AbiBinit – Abingdon’s Community Litter Picking Group. She is seen here with Lynne Ford, who brought her truck to help, and some of the bagged up litter.

Helen has put on Facebook that there will be another litter pick on Saturday, 16th February 2019 from 10:00-12:00 starting at Rye Farm Carpark.

I cycled to Frilford at the weekend and was amazed just how much litter there was from the Marcham Road A34 Interchange to the junction with the A338 – Wantage Road. The hedges and undergrowth had been cutback and all the rubbish had been revealed. These litter picks are making us more aware of the problem.