2¾ miles from Abingdon town centre is the centre of the village of Marcham. Off one side of the main road you will find a sheep farm…

and a dairy farm…

and there is an old dove-cote squeezed in next to an electricity sub-station.

But, like Abingdon, Marcham suffers from traffic problems. Along the main street called ‘Packhorse Lane’ the road twists, and there are no pavements.

There has been a long campaign to build a bypass round Marcham, but there is no funding currently and so the campaign drags on. In fact, things might get worse for Marcham with the proposed reservoir. Thames Water are proposing building a service road from near Marcham to the reservoir (should the reservoir be given the go-ahead). That could then draw in more traffic.

Recently, one of the town council candidates wrote in an election bulletin that “Abingdon is a vibrant, bustling town.” A letter to the Abingdon Herald said the candidate “must wear rose-tinted spectacles“.

The candidate replied “As the laboratory manager for an independent local optician, I pride myself on my ability to tint quality prescription lenses. I don’t wear rose-tinted sunglasses: for spring, I like light brown.” He went on to say ” Abingdon is no ghost town. It’s alive and it has a healthy heart.” Now somebody has left a comment ” Healthy Heart maybe but all the arteries are blocked.”

Anyway, now for an experiment, can I ask you to look at the picture above of a tree in St Helens Court, first without spectacles.

Now look at it with rose-tinted spectacles, and you will see a deep fissure up the side. The bark and trunk has split and the tree is dieing on this near side. I would argue that rose-tinted spectacles should not be so maligned.

We do enjoy our white arrows here in Abingdon.

Some shops fronts just want to get noticed. They want to be centre stage

or upstage the competition.

Others have a more subtle way about them,

and still got noticed.