We are way for the weekend in Ulverstone, Cumbria, and yesterday I went into John C Jackson Antiques. It is a minute walk from the town centre shops, with a prominent position on the corner of Fountain Street. I flicked through some old postcards, and bought two, then got talking to John Jackson, the owner.

He knew Abingdon from a boating trip on the River Thames. Lovely town he remembered, on the River Thames. He remembered going over the bridge for a drink in one of the town’s pubs then going back late to his hired boat. He was invited into the neighboring boat for more drinks by a very persuasive neighbour. The neighbour said he knew Ulverstone. He had just been there two days before as part of his underwater photography business. While in Ulverstone the neighbour had even noticed John Jackson’s antique shop. John Jackson said it was ‘a small world’.

He said his business was 49 years old, about as old as the postcard pictured above.

The Vale of White Horse District Council are starting to get serious on their new moorings policy introduced earlier in 2017.

The policy tries to ensure that visitors are welcome but don’t overstay their welcome, and to give moorings to residents on an annual basis. The penalty notice picture above was on St Helen’s Wharf.