Monday Market on Freedom to Choose Day

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Since the start of June there has been a new grocer, with dried goods, at the Monday Market in Abingdon.

My wife thinks there is less packaging at the market than supermarkets and so we try to buy vegetables on Monday.

This Monday there were no longer stewards to help control social distancing.

The Isla Jane Bakery looked colourful as did the flowers stall. Today’s heat made some of the flowers wilt.

I felt a bit more self conscious about wearing a mask than usual. I asked one shop keeper whether she had to wear a mask. She said it was left up to her to decide but she thought mask wearing was still the right thing to do with the large increase in infections.

At the library there was nobody outside the door anymore. The track and trace box and QR code had been moved inside the library and is a matter of personal choice. The government is advising that masks should still be worn in crowded public spaces, but the library was not crowded. So some people had chosen not to wear a mask. It is an individual choice now there is no legal requirement.

Shakeshop move and freedom not full freedom

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A sign has appeared in the window of Shakeshop in Stert Street to say they will be moving to a bigger place in August.

The new place will be 18 Bury Street, the old Southern Gas showroom – where many of us bought our first cooker.

The word ‘freedom’ was used by Southern Gas in 1974 to promote cooking with the latest cooker.

July 19th 2021 is the delayed freedom day, the move to Step 4 and the end of the COVID-19 legal restrictions. A lot of businesses, and organisations, will not take full advantage of the new freedom yet. There has been a large rise in COVID-19 cases since the move to Step 3 and the delta variant.

Original artwork by local artists

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There were original paintings in the garden room at St Ethelwolds,

and sculptures, prints and cards in the garden.

From 16th-19th July, Caroline Ritson, Marion Owen and Bruce Bignold are exhibiting their work.

Bruce has some fun watercolours of buildings in Abingdon.

Caroline has a passion for seascapes.

Marion paints landscapes in a variety of styles.

The garden was a pleasant place to be on such a lovely morning.

The flowers looked spectacular in the sun.

Wooden structure / sculpture on roundabout

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Carol says ‘a wooden structure / sculpture has appeared on the roundabout at the junction of Caldecott Road and Drayton Road – any information on who designed it and why it is there?‘

I have no information. But I have started looking at the evidence.

The Oxford Wood Recycling workshop and warehouse is off that roundabout. They have a large number of crates in their carpark waiting to have the nails removed. I did suspect them at first. I wondered if this was a way to advertise their presence. But then I thought they would have made a pyramid of pallet wood.

I did wonder if it could be the work of the famous Abingdon artist, River Banksy,  who carves animals out of wood at Abingdon Lock. But this is too abstract and too far from the River Thames.

This structure look like the wigwams to be found in woodland areas. This wigwam of branches is well made, it looks good from all sides and has some colourful flags made from net bags to attract attention. As we are nearing the end of the academic year it could be the final project of somebody doing an arts course.