There used to be a barrier at the exit from the Charter car park and people paid on exiting. That was back in the days when our children called it a Par Cark.

Now parking is pay and display.

Less people appear to be using the car park, and that means less people are using the town.

And so a review is being carried out by the Vale of White Horse District Council. Richard Farrell leads the review. (He is seen here talking to Lesley Legge – the leader of the town council).

Questions the review should hopefully be considering:

• parking charges
• level of fines
• should it be pay and display
• who parks where (currently shoppers park on the higer levels during the week because permit holders, including his own staff, use the lowers levels.)

The trend to supermarket shopping has reduced the number of butchers shops in the town centre to one. A casual visitor might not realise that one existed.

But a few chalked ‘A’ boards tell of the presence of a shop along one of the little frequented paths in the town centre – Queen Street.

Hedges have a grand shop window display in the Oxford Covered Market , but Hedges in Abingdon are a lot less showey.

The main business of the Abingdon branch appears to be delivering to pubs and restaurants and hotels and homes.

This tree shows signs of trauma.

It is to be found beneath a Motte – the remains of a medieaval Motte and Bailey, on the Fitzharry’s estate. Its an interesting wooded area in the middle of an Abingdon housing estate. Children ride bikes up the Motte.

The hole goes right through to high up on the other side of the tree so you can look through. Such holes build up over time whether through water, disease, or infestation.

I went to investigate a report from the Tithe Farm and Ladygrove Newsletter – December 2007. It read “… there are an alarming number of potholes and cracks in the road surfaces. The ones in Mill Road have now white lines marked around them. This may mean

a) They are about to be repaired
b) Once the council has marked them, they are no longer liable if someone has an accident
c) They have been designated a tourist attraction…“

When I got to Mill Road the tourist attraction had been removed. But as you can see from the first picture there are still ones to be seen in Exbourne Road.