I heard that Dr Vernon Butt, a Freeman and former Mayor of Abingdon died on Sunday Morning. He had been ill for some time and was in his late 90s. He was a one time Vice-Master of Pembroke College, Oxford. He was a devout worshipper at St Michael’s Church and a true gentleman. He is pictured in the centre with Mr Ewart Hemmings and Mr Michael Matthews – fellow Freemen of Abingdon.

Andrew, from St Nicolas Church, tells me the Abingdon Anglican clergy are recording thoughts for the day for a month starting on Monday. I will include a link when I have it. There will be short audio files of under 2 minutes duration.

The buses are carrying very few people currently. The Oxford Bus Company continues to support key workers and those making essential journeys. They ask people to sit 2 metres apart – that is one person to a seat, and at least every other seat where possible. One at a time boarding.

My Spy was released on March 13th and so did not get much of a run apart from on the side of a bus.

The Abbey Cinema took their unused stock to the Abingdon Foodbank just before the lockdown.

If people wish to donate money to the Abingdon Foodbank, follow this link and then select Foodbank. We look forward to supporting The Abbey Cinema when it can reopen.

There are about twenty hair and beauty businesses in Abingdon Town Centre. They have all been closed since the start of the lockdown. We also look forward to supporting them when they can reopen.

Now is the time to let it grow wild, or try some DIY and let the professionals sort it out later.

I started the day with the first shop at Waitrose since the start of the lockdown. Normally I go in there every other day.

The queue was well spaced out. We waited a few minutes in the sunshine and then were politely given a wiped trolley. Stocks of food were much better than before the lockdown

At home there was a letter from the UK Government and a leaflet explaining the lockdown rules.

I saw this ‘in This Together‘ poster in one window, which I thought was an excellent slogan.

Our exercise walk took us down Peep O Day Lane. They have not finished the work but the cycle path has been opened during a pause in work.

There was some nice pink blossom on South Quay.

The view to St Helen’s Wharf looked much the same, but on the River Thames there were just birds and no boats, not even rowing boats.

On Radio 4, this morning, they said there was to be a Pink Moon, but that it would not be really pink.

There was rain when I set out this morning. This is the view when I got home from work late afternoon. Sunshine had returned.

On the 10 pm news we saw that Boris Johnson is in intensive care as a precautionary measure. The worldometer graphs show that he epidemic has not peaked in the UK yet.

At work I did the weekly shopping trip on behalf of the people we support. The rules have been tightened since last week. New ways are considered about how the virus could be spread. We are now asked to decontaminate food packaging before putting them away or letting others touch them.

We all worry that we might unknowingly take the virus into the place we work – before any symptoms appear. So social distancing is important as much as possible.

Some of the shop windows in Abingdon have been emptied while they are closed.

Oxfam normally changes their window display every couple of weeks but the cheerful yellow display will stay longer.

Abingdon Picture Framing has a selection of Abingdon views that does not change as often anyway.

M sent a more hopeful picture of blossoms along the path this Palm Sunday Morning.

Judith sent me this picture of a Thrush in the Abbey Meadows – seen hopping about as it caught and ate a worm.

New leaves are visible on the large trees over the road from our house in West St Helen Street. With this slow down in life, due to the virus and isolation, we watch new leaves forming when normally we are too busy to notice.

On Palm Sunday, here is a picture from the 2013 Abingdon Passion Play where crowds cheered Jesus on a donkey through the Abbey Gardens in Abingdon.

In our Trinity Service Sheet today, Deacon Selina recalls the crowds in Kenya when the Queen visited in 1979. Selina says ‘We were so close to her and marvelled at the way in which she was the most exquisite, flawless person we had ever seen!’.

The Queen will be giving a message to the nation this evening at 8 pm.

Here is the video from which that picture of the Abingdon Passion Play was taken. We were seven years younger then.