Abingdon Library to Re-open (but not as a social centre)

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Abingdon Library to Reopen
Libraries in Oxfordshire will re-open either on 13th July or 20th July. Abingdon Library will be among the first to re-open on the 13th.

There will be some changes to how the library will operate to make them Covid-safe:
* you may have to queue to enter
* social distancing measures will be in place
* they will collect your name and contact details on entry
* short visits will be encouraged – up to 30 minutes
* they will take card and online payments only (no cash)
* most soft seating and tables will be removed – so I suspect fewer computers
* newspapers and magazines will be removed
* face-to-face events won’t run until government advice allows.

Looking at the Oxfordshire Library Catalogue, I see my loans have been extended to the 3rd – 10th August. I could still do the Michael Thomas Italian course, but I probably won’t as the Italian holiday was cancelled.

The upper floor of the library also used to be a bit of a social centre – even a day centre at times. Here is an idle ten minutes from before the shutdown …

We all hear a phone ring and then after some low chatter I hear a voice from a soft chair promise, ‘I will call you back in a moment, Sue.’… A group round a local history computer murmur and the one word I can hear is ‘Oxfordshire.’… Bob F reads a 1970’s Abingdon Herald on microfilm… The librarian at the enquiry desk piles books, beeping each through… A young lady with a laptop twirls a plait of hair. With her pink coffee cup and sprawl of papers, she seems to be waiting for inspiration… I flick through the reference only copy of News from a Country Town … From July 1780 I read of a floral festival at the Crown and Thistle. It says, ‘Each person to prove on oath that his Blossoms are his own blowing.’… There’s a ‘rurr jurr’ and then a flapping as the microfilm winds back into its spool … The librarian wheels the books through ‘Staff Only’… Bob slings a bag over his shoulder, and says ‘Good Bye.’… The man in the low back chair is stretched out with a stick next to him. I am more worried about him calling Sue than he seems.

Fairacres Phase 2 – July update

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Fairacres
Construction has continued on Phase 2 of the Fairacres Retail Park. The structure is in place and cladding is being added in July.

The largest unit will be a Lidl – a German international discount supermarket chain who are Big on Quality – Lidl on Price. There are four other units up for grabs.

Traffic roundabouts in Abingdon have gone a bit wild during the Coronavirus pandemic, but one of the many businesses off this particular roundabout (Tesco, Hilton Garden Hotel,  Miele, …. Lidl) could choose to tame this one, and have their sign added for publicity purposes.

Heron on Stratton Way

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Tony says
Heron
Out for a walk one evening we saw a heron sitting on the roof of South Lodge at the bottom of Bath Street by the Stratton Way pedestrian crossing. Surely not, we thought!
Heron
Going closer it looked like a heron but we still thought it might be ornamental, but
Heron
Closer still and we alarmed it so that it flew up onto the roof of Stratton Lodge behind.

Rascals, Rot and Ruin at Old Abbey House

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Old Abbey House
Old Abbey House has been unused and unoccupied since the town council and citizens advice moved out in 2014. The building was boarded up two years ago to stop vandalism, and rotating climb guards added more recently.
Old Abbey House
A lot of roof tiles are broken above the lower half of the building.
Old Abbey House
The roof on the higher part looks better, but mischief makers are still getting up there and causing damage.

Old Abbey House is owned by the Vale of the White Horse District Council. The Conservatives were in charge up to May 2019 and proposed using it as Social Housing. The Lib-Dems have been in charge since May 2019. They were putting together a strategy document about managing VWHDC buildings when the Coronavirus Pandemic struck.