Halloween is over for another year. Apart from the shop window displays, it passed us by as we don’t have young children.

In the town centre we are not visited by Trick and Treaters and no longer buy a supply of Haribo Tangfastics. I would end up eating them in any case when nobody came to the door and would regret it.

This year we haven’t even bothered with a pumpkin and candles.

Shop widows will change from Halloween to Christmas on November 1st. Some shops, like Finishing Touch, are already there.

There was a foggy start to the day here in Abingdon-on-Thames. The sun and blue sky would be seen later.

The fog gave the grotto at Cosener’s House a more mysterious appearance.

At that early hour stall holders were arriving with their boxes for a Craft and Gift Market at the Guildhall. It used the Roysse Court entrance, Roysse Room, and Magistrates Court.

Entry was free.

What was interesting about this market was the efforts made to attract people to the event. ‘Ladies! Gentlemen! Come this way! Come this way!’ One man outside was like a market stall caller trying to attract people to the market. A lady went further afield with a spinning arrow device.

There were about twenty stalls and they were all quite decent. Walking through I got the feeling that the stall holders were each hoping we would buy. They were so polite and willing to please, and said thankyou when we said ‘what a lovely display’ and answered with great detail when asked how the bowl with different woods and resin was made. They also had some good lines. The soap maker from Fareham in Surrey said ‘one customer told me this was the best saving soap he had bought’. We bought a couple of things and have no complaints.

This Monday at around noon, the AJ Bell Womens Cycle Tour, raced through Abingdon.

It was the first of six days of racing from Oxfordshire to Suffolk. Before they came through, the bollards were removed from Abingdon Bridge (weak bridge awaiting repairs), and the road was brushed.

Lots of outriders on motorbikes came through before the race. One rider stopped and stood in front of a car in Bridge Street, with a flag, to warn the riders of the obstacle.

There was a reporter interviewing spectators near the Crown and Thistle.

The riders came up the rise of Abingdon Bridge in a large bunch (called a ‘peloton’ in the Tour de France), with support cars behind. Crowds cheered as they came up Bridge Street, and by the fair on the Market Place. They raced by in seconds

More people were waiting to cheer them through Stert Street.

The race highlights will be shown this evening at 9pm on ITV4. Also I have made it my entry for the city daily photographers start of month theme day on ‘winning’. More entries here. Thankyou to Elizabeth for the last picture.

We are back in Abingdon after a week away. The X2 bus driver at Oxford Station said that a lot of petrol stations in the area have run out of fuel. He put it down to panic buying. The Vineyard Service Station was not selling fuel this morning.

There are signs in the Vineyard warning that the road will be closed on 4th October for the Womens Cycle Tour. The Cycle Tour begins in Oxfordshire on Day 1, starting in Bicester. The race will head south to Culham and Abingdon, then north to finish in Banbury. The route through Abingdon is Bridge Street, Stert Street (wrong way), Stratton Way,  Bath Street, and Wootton Road.

Also on 4th October, Abingdon Street Fair will shut High Street, Ock Street, and part of Stratton way. The signs, this year, make it the Longest Street Fair in the UK – 1½ mile !