There has been talk of mud on twitter this weekend and I became very aware of  mud on the dog walk today …

The area that looks like the pigs’ play puddle is the pedestrian route to Tesco from Chaunterell Way.

The route was created when Tesco first opened in the early 1980s (corrected from 70s after comment). There is a picture in the library local studies section of a bridge at the Tesco end of the path being lowered into position in 1983. Not only is the path muddy a lot of the year, but the fence is falling down.

Down the Ock Valley Walk there is still evidence of flood damage over 4 years after the 2007 floods. Dead trees like the curly branched variety in the picture have been left as a reminder.

A planning application has recently been put in on land near St Amand Drive, close to the River Ock, with an attached flood risk assessment by a firm based in Burgess Hill, West Sussex and I quote “… Running near the northern boundary of the site is the (bifurcated) River Ock, which flows east to the Thames (known locally as the Isis.) …”

At that point I started to doubt the flood risk. I have never called the Thames the Isis even when I lived in Oxford. Perhaps there are some in Abingdon that do.