It was colder today on the first day of December with the mist/fog on the River Thames in Abingdon. (Mist turns to fog when visibility is under 1000 metres.)
One of the street lamps has a bluish colour like the new led Christmas lights. Perhaps this evening scene will look bluer and colder in five years as led takes over.
On St Helen’s Wharf, there were friends from the twin towns, visiting Abingdon for a church twinning conference on the environment that is taking place this weekend. There is a presentation tomorrow morning by five Abingdon Eco groups, and in the afternoon a presentation about the Heat Source at Peachcroft Christian Centre.
St Helen’s Wharf looks lovely with the trees autumnal, and the drift of leaves.
Whoever planned the sunken rowing boat deserves a prize. It featured on the front page of the Abingdon Herald a week ago, thanks to a Becca Collacott photograph – taken on a misty morning
The Garden Room was open at St Ethelwold’s House. In the Garden Room, there is a Visitors Book. Here is a small and quite typical selection.
‘An amazing retreat to stumble across in Abingdon. I can’t believe I never knew this was here.’
‘I lived in Abingdon from 1964 to 67. I can’t believe I’d never been here before. Wonderful. I’ve done some knitting.’
‘I’m so glad I walked into this fabulous setting. Spring has finally started to do its magic, and flowers are coming up. The birds are singing, and I can watch the geese and riverboats. It’s a site for sore eyes after the harsh winter months.’
‘What’s a lovely place to stumble upon. We are studying at Oxford and decided to take a little day trip to explore Abingdon during our Christmas holidays. What a lovely place.’
‘Stumbled across the lovely garden. So tranquil.’
‘Thank you to all the people who make this what it is. It’s a beautiful place. Restores my soul.’
‘It’s my great joy that I was joined for about five minutes by a Kingfisher on one of the poles.’
When I left, I saw one of the volunteer gardeners cutting back plants, a visitor sitting on a bench enjoying the October sunshine, and a dragonfly resting on a garden table.
Water is reflected on the underside of the navigation arch of Abingdon (Burford) Bridge on sunny days.
In 1790, when Abingdon Lock was opened, one of the original arches was widened to ease navigation. After that, to allow larger boats, the river was dredged further down than previous bridge builders could have foreseen. Dredging and the greater weight of road traffic meant the original bridge became unstable, and around 1927 the bridge was again rebuilt to create the current 60-foot span of reinforced concrete.
The history of the rebuild in 1927 can be read about at https://www.oxoniensia.org/volumes/1937/leeming.pdf.