For anybody who has read the novel Nausea by John Paul Sartre, or ever feels as confused as the hero, this post is dedicated to you.

In the novel, the hero can no longer separate himself from what he sees in quite the normal way and becomes overwhelmed by just looking at a tree – all the bark and branches etc… They appear quite monstuous as he goes into a state of what most of us call mental breakdown.

These picture were all taken along the bushy , and swampy area, inbetween the Thames Walk and the Abingdon Vale Cricket pitch. Here you’ll find old tree stumps left to rot, and a clearing where a bonfire has been lit, and a ditch.

Looking back at my Abingdon 1910 reproduction map, bought for £2.20 at the library, I see that the ditch looked then more like a stream, possibly even bigger. The County Boundary between Berkshire and Oxfordshire ran down it before rejoining the Thames. So this little bit of land on the opposite bank was not Oxfordshire but Berkshire like Abingdon. The area contained mostly trees and was called the Rookery and had:

Some old stone steps leading to the bottom of a circle of stones… Anyone know what this was?

And a low bridge crossing the ditch…

And big trees that would have scared the living daylights out of the hero of Nausea, or anybody of a nervous disposition.

The Kings Head and Bell public house takes you back into a world of dark wood panelling. There is a courtyard with tables where you can sit outside in summer, and a snug with a blazing fire in winter.

It is an old Pub with records going back to the 1500s. The out buildings would have had a hostlery and smithy for horses. As can be seen there is enough room to drive a coach and horses.

There are stories about King Charles I having come here during the early years of the Civil War, before the Roundheads took over Abingdon.

In any case, the sign remembers that very King.

The facade was altered at the beginning of the 19th Century to look as it does now.

There is a jazz club upstairs sometimes.

One of my favourite Abingdon pubs although the music can be loud at times. Not that I mind loud music. I’m just no good at lip reading.

This coming Sunday will be Harvest Festival at Trinity Church which is where I normally go. People bring food and other gifts which get shared out the next day among people ‘in need.’

And where better (in Abingdon) to go at around Harvest than to Peachcroft Farm.

I was suprised that they are still doing “Pick your Own” so late in the season. They have some late raspberries, runner-beans and sweet corn.

They have a nice little shed selling fruit and vegetables – pre-picked. And behind that is a proper shop run by “Wells Stores.” The Peachcroft farm web site says the store “is bursting with all kinds of country food – the kind of fresh and home produced food that makes your mouth water.”

And alongside the shop are lots of turkeys running about in the sunshine, and clambering over the bales of straw. The turkeys also get a note on the website as “‘old fashioned’ slow growing strains, and grow to full maturity, giving their meat an excellent texture.”

The windows of the Blue Boar pub in Bath street have been covered with sheets from the Sun Newspaper. And a blackboard has been put up saying “Closed for Re…” I Couldn’t make out the remainder of the word, whether it was redecoration, repainting, restoration, renovation, or repair…

.. or even rest, recovery and recuperation. The Blue Boar is an old pub, over 500 years old, with an extension at the back. So sometimes you can experience
an olde worlde open fire, but at other times Big Screen Football or Saturday Night Fever. Perhaps the old building needs a rest and a chance to recuperate after the long summer.

Another pub going through a renovation is the Old Anchor on St Helens Wharf. In January, the pub was looking for a new landlord. The new landlords, who took over in March or April, seem to be doing well, and the pub is thriving again, particularly on Thursday evening when there is a quiz. In their case I can see that half the roof tiles have been replaced so they are re-roofing. The sign in the middle of the scaffold says “Open as Usual.”