The change from street to shop is startling during this heatwave. You hear people saying on going into the Co-op,’I’ll spend the day here.’
Refrigeration and air conditioning units must be using a lot of power.
The trees at the Square and Market Place give shade.
Other places are more exposed to the sun.
Newcomer reported that, on Thursday Morning, he saw a lot of water birds on the slope of Abingdon Weir at 9 am. They were enjoying the slow water flow and eating the water weed from the flow. He did not have his Apple phone with him.
Hoping for a picture, I went there this morning. Instead of many birds, a family of ducks was resting on the weir substructure,
and thousands of small fish were nibbling at water weed near the surface just below the weir.
The Environment Agency announced today that the Thames area, including Abingdon, has moved into drought status. Drought status means that the Environment Agency and water companies can start implementing drought plans, including a hosepipe ban. Some Councils have implemented a splash park turn-off.
At Abbey Meadow, a new fence has been erected to stop young children from falling into the river. The fence could deter geese from entering the splash park, although they were still there today.
The Abingdon Distillery has moved into part of Coxeter House and opened last week.
Abingdon Gin is distilled in copper stills on site, and on sale in bottles. There will be tours. The website https://abingdondistillery.com/ has the details.
The Stratton Way side of Coxeter House is changing into a bar or restaurant and will probably open in October.
Pedestrians do get stilled at this crossing for minutes at a time.
Abingdon Museum has an exhibition about some reptiles, fish and floaty creatures that might have been found in Jurassic times when Abingdon would have been a sea.
There are fossils and information boards describing creatures such as Ichthyosaurs, Pliasaurs, Plesiosaurs, Leedsichthys problematicus, Shastasaurs, Ammonites & Belemnites.
A large aquarium containing one large sea creature can be viewed through a VR headset. The VR headset has been popular and will be used in future with different VR films.
This weekend, the museum website https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/abingdon-county-hall-museum has details for a talk by the palaeontology professor from Portsmouth about the Pliosaurus (or Abingdon Sea Monster).