On election day at least a third of people coming to the polling station had not received a polling card. The Didcot Herald reported a similar situation in South Oxfordshire under the headline “Inquiry into election ‘shambles’ ” . A lot of people are now getting polling cards belatedly as batches come through from the Swindon depot. Hope not too many people missed out as a result.
Oxfordshire Art Weeks runs for 3 weeks, and the first week has some Abingdon venues. One is St Helens Church.
My wife liked this one of the sky and red kite.
She also liked the one in the centre here. I think it is done by somebody we used to know when our children were little who has recently taken up art. Both have red dots to say they are sold. Too late for those two but there is a lot more to look round.
A little while back this blog featured a coot’s nest below the Margaret Brown Gardens.
Since then the nest has drifted, or been rebuilt, near the railings, and people are still throwing things in at it. There is the remains of a chip cone, and so much bread that the coots never need go out to find food.
There is also a chick, under the protection of the mother’s wing, with a little red head – as bald as a vulture. But despite that, mum still looks very proud.
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Thanks to Dave’s comment(1). He thinks the nest I show is of another pair and sent this picture of the original nest ….
Dave says “I thought that this drifting boat may have caused this coot to abandon this nest or perhaps the recent thunder storm was the cause. I suspect that these coots have moved across to the other side of the river although I think that their chick may not have survived.”
The old Abbey Press works on Thamesview, just over the fence from the Abbey Gardens, look as if a bomb has hit it.
The old print works have been ‘To Let’ since the Abbey Press moved to near Fairacres about five years ago. Some of the adjoining building was used until recently. I think it was an MOT centre. But now the whole lot is being demolished – quite possibly for a care home.