Seen from below the finial balls gave symmetry and elegance to the balustrade round the County Hall roof.
From above, I sometimes thought, they got in the way of a good view.
When architects were assessing the work needed on the County Hall roof they found the finial balls were not secure enough. As a result they have been removed, probably until 2012.
The roof has also been closed to the public because of Health and Safety concerns. Better safe than sorry I am afraid.
John took these on Monday, arriving by Salters’ Steamer from Wallingford. He said “Who can doubt that we have one of the finest waterfronts in Britain.?”
Still he says “the A34 points passers-by to Millets Farm instead….”
It is about a year since John last mentioned the lack of a brown tourist sign from the A34. I know far cleverer people than me have tried and been told that historically it was easy to get brown tourists signs but nowadays there are so many criteria to fulfill – it is not easy to get a new one.
Maybe to get such things done you have to stop listening to reason.
The other impression that came to me on returning to Abingdon was that the lawn was green again, as was the grass in front of Queen Victoria in the Abbey Grounds where the grass had looked parched back in June.
(The Abbey Grounds have also retained a Green Flag award for the second year.)
The second thing different about Abingdon when we got back off holiday was that we were diverted away from Bath Street round Spring Road. Bath Street is in the middle of a two week major resurfacing.
The roads in Abingdon may have once all had such an unfinished look to them. That would have been back in the days when you could have ridden in on a coach and horses to the inn opposite.