My first job after school was working in one of the large mental hospitals that housed upwards of a thousand residents.

Cecil Parkinson, Margaret Thatchers close ally, wrote a report that led to their closure, and to care in the community (or lack of care in the community).

I believe that this wall along Box Hill Recreation Ground is all that remains of the Old Abingdon Workhouse. Many large workhouses were turned into asylums and then mental hospitals, but not Abingdon.

Abingdon has always had lots of Care in the Community.

A few weeks ago I went to the very popular Ock Street exhibition and bought a leaflet called “Ock Street Heritage Walk.” I’m grateful to the Abingdon and Area Archaelogical Society (Aaahs) for all the quotes given below.

Between the Ock Street Dental Practice and Steer’s Hair Stylist is the building above which has a sign for Abingdon Upholsterer Workshops. The Aaahs leaflet describes this: “Nos 39 and 41 have an early C19 brick frontage on a pair of earlier buildings. The central arch gave access to Court No 1 with dwellings round a yard” Ock Street used to have lots of dewllings arranged round different courts before the 1930s slum clearance.

“Nos 75 & 77 are two timber-framed houses faced with tiles hung on battens. No 75 has plain tiles, but no 77 has tiles closely resembling brickwork…”

“The large building to the left of the Crown Mews development, with three gabled dormer windows, was Mr Warricks Public Houses, c.1700, a good example of the use of locally quarried rubble stone with brick dressings.”

No 143 was the Happy Dick Pub, a timber framed building c. 1600. It retains the distinctive jetted construction and prominent gable.

There is lots more in the leaflet, but I’ll end with one building it does not mention: Domino’s Pizzas – not quite such an old building.

Honeyz is no more. Instead we now have even more variety and choice because there, in its place, is a Lebanese Restaurant Cafe and Bubble Bar – called Salinas.

We dined there and had a set menu which allowed us to try lots of things at the same time.

Salinas seem to be doing a good trade since opening six days ago. The chap running it was very friendly.

Abingdon now has: French Lebanese, Thai, Indian, Chinese, Italian, Vietnamese, American, English, Turkish… Have I forgotten any?

This evening the Abingdon and Oxford West Conservative association were choosing their candidate for the next General Election which could be as far away as 2010. They hope to regain control from the Lib-Dem MP, Dr Evan Harris.

I was told that four young female ‘A List’ candidates were taking part. ‘A’ List Candidates only go for a winnable constituency. The Conservatives are hoping with this early start, and a lot of hard work on the doorstep to win here. I do wonder if they also have ‘A+’ List Candidates for safe Tory seats.

Each candidate was asked whether they had experienced hardship and how it had affected them. One had served in the armed services in Iraq, one had suffered a collapsed lung, one had had ME and had come back. They said that hardship makes the woman in terms of compassion, empathy, character, and fighting spirit. One candidate had even taken up marshall arts after coming through her hardship ( a serious spinal injury).

Nicola Blackwood, the young lady top left, won, and it was not just because she is blond, although that helped, and could well be worth some votes.