I saw this new post box topper on the Market Place this evening. It’s a sign that autumn is coming, and it’s been a really rainy week. The puddles on the roads have been growing and shrinking and growing and shrinking again and again from all the rain.

The previous topper, which I didn’t write about then, showed pupils returning to school at the beginning of the month. Then, all the problems with RAAC concrete started. One Abingdon school closed in the first week because they might have had some RAAC but didn’t. Then another Abingdon school discovered they did have RAAC and closed the week after. I didn’t know what RAAC concrete was before this month, but I do now. RAAC is a lightweight form of precast concrete, frequently used in public sector buildings in the UK from the mid-1960s to the 1990s. It was invented in Sweden in the 1930s and has limited durability, and must be monitored. As should most concrete. I don’t expect the multi-storey to have a RAAC problem, but it has been partially closed for a long time now.

Autumn will bring a lot more shocks and thrills. For one thing Abingdon Street Fair posters have been let down in empty shops as a reminder that Autumn could be a wild ride.