Wilsham Road - The Village of Willic.

Pictures taken on the dog walk this morning with the early sun lighting up Wilsham Road in South Abingdon...

Ferry Boat House is the blue building, with fuel pumps nearby.

Here are a few of the lucky house owners who have a view across the River Thames.

This large barge is a permanent fixture at the bottom of Saxton Road. It is being kitted out as part of one man's project of a lifetime.

From about this point Wilsham Road gets set further back behind the Sailing Club and Rowing Club.

A rower, from Abingdon Rowing Club, is seen in front of the Sailing Club.

Same rower, heading the other way, with Abingdon School Boathouse behind.

When I asked if anybody had any suggestions for future blog posts anonymous suggested more streets and meanings of street names. According to 'The Origins of the Street Names of Abingdon' by John McGowan "This area lay outside the Borough of Abingdon and was in Sutton Courtney parish. There are various derivations of its name. From 1191 to 1242 it was called 'Wulchesham'; in 1270 'Wylchesham' and in 1667 Wilsham. All the above mean 'the village of Willic'."

Flood Meeting

Dr Evan Harris MP organised a public meeting about flooding (today) at the Guildhall. Representatives of the Environment Agency (EA) gave a presentation, then Dr Harris, and the people in the audience quizzed them.

Last year the Environment Agency had said at an exhibition that the 2007 flood was now thought to be a one in 275 year event, not a one in 100 year event as previously thought, and so large scale flood protection measures for the River Ock (which flooded most of the houses in 2007) could not be justified. They also said there are now 90 houses that could flood (far fewer than previous estimates) one year in a hundred so insurance should be less of a problem for the others.

This meeting was the first chance to publicly question them on this. The one in 275 year predictions come from a £100,000 modelling exercise using the Halcrow river modelling software. When asked to justify these predictions the EA said the model was very complicated and difficult to explain, and involved putting in lots of data, but they are happy to explain it to individuals who have the time.

Halcrow are experts in computer modelling of real world events. Their slogan is "Complex River Systems - No Problem for Halcrow." But in this case their models do not predict what the non expert on the ground felt was the case . We were also confused by the EA saying a lot of the flooding in 2007 was from ground water ,when it was clearly the River Ock.

Pick up your Pooh

Seen on a walk near Radley College a little while back...

"Pick up you Pooh. I don't want it on my shoe."

and "Pick up your Pooh... I'm watching you."

It got me to thinking and now I have come up with a Scottish version "Pick Up Ya Poo, Ach aye the noo."

Anybody do better than that?

Let's Dance

Here in Abingdon there are many ways to dance....

There are two Traditional Morris Dancing groups, or the less traditional Old Speckled Hen Clog Dancers - seen on the Market Place last Saturday and named after a famous Abingdon brew.

Or there is the Abingdon Dance Studio to be found in Swinburne Road (established in 1945 ).

They have a taster weekend on the 20th and 21st FEBRUARY 2010. Just pay £10 and go through as many courses as you can... Here is the menu...

SATURDAY 20th FEBRUARY

10am Dance for fitness

11am Belly Dance for fun

12noon Rock’n’Roll

1pm Cheerleading

2pm Ballroom

3pm 6-8 years - aimed at - but all can join in

4pm Salsa

SUNDAY 21st FEBRUARY

10am Line Dancing

11am Musical Theatre

12noon Street Dance

1pm Latin

2pm Freestyle

3pm Argentine Tango

4pm Pole Fitness - * adults only

Probably best to ring first if you have a particular need as the courses may vary slightly from those shown. Contact details on Abingdon Dance

.

Change on The High Street

These old bike stands were removed today.

Most of the pavements have been done on the far side of the High Street, and now it is happening this.

Next will be these old bus shelters.

Sands run out on sandman

On Saturday sandman closed. It was a stylish independent fashion shop for men. For a while it did try both mens and womens clothes but recently has been men's fashion.

Happy Valentine's Day

The British Heart Foundation have love notes in the window, love notes written on hearts.