Wallingford

Wallingford Bridge over The Thames.














The George Hotel where our room was excellent. They were struggling to keep the restaurant warm though, and we did have to change tables to get out of a particularly icy draught. Staff all very pleasant however, and we had a very good meal - at a very good price.

Abingdon Museum

The Museum is housed in County Hall in the middle of the town opposite the medieval abbey.

















This is not an exhibit, but one of a large number of exclusively (expensively) designed folding chairs which were rather intriguing.

More Abingdon scenes

The Thames at Abingdon

Abingdon Lock on The Thames

Abingdon

As promised, here's a bit about our visit to Wallingford.
On our way, we stopped at Abingdon and took a few photos.
This was heading through the park on our way to find The Thames.

£120 Parking Fine update

Well, not too surprisingly, Westminster council have accepted that the green Mini Cooper was not SWMBO's blue Renault Megane and we have had a grudging apology from them. The case has been dropped. All very well but what about those without Internet access who are not able to reassure themselves quite so quickly that they are in the clear, and face weeks of worry that they are about to lose £120 - or more?

More Redbourn in the snow...

The Jolly Gardener which used to be a straw plait school, then a pub and now a private house.














St.Mary's Church.















One of the village signs, flagpole and war memorial.

Poppy's not too keen on the snow

You may have to play this twice - or you'll miss her!

Fame (sort of) at last!

These are two of my photos which have appeared in this week's Herts Advertiser newspaper.
This is Beesnest Cottage on the common, and this one is also on the local BBC radio twitter page.














This is the River Red crossing The Moor.

Back from a short break

We've just had a well timed break in Wallingford. Well timed because we just got home yesterday before the snow set in. We stopped briefly in Wallingford during our Thames cruise on our boat last year and decided to return at a later date to have a good look round. It's a very nice little town - more to follow later.

Here's our Christmas tree looking very Christmassy covered in snow after being 'taken down' last night and put outside awaiting recycling.














Poppy did venture out for a few seconds this morning but is now warming herself with her paw stretched along the radiator, which her latest idea.

New Year's Day march

We went for our usual New Year Stroll and walked to Flamstead. Unfortunately, our lane was impassable due to flooding and ice so we had to detour across the fields, although this was a short cut in fact. The problem was that the sun had just started to melt the frost and our shiny boots then got quite muddy - never mind.
As you can see, no progress whatsoever has been made on the restoration of The Spotted Dog after their fire many months ago. Hopefully they will start work soon.














Luckily The Three Blackbirds was open and was warm and cosy. There was a huge platter of party food on the bar which was possibly left over from the previous night's celebrations. We were warmly welcomed to dig in - great!














Interesting vending machine in the conservatory the The Three Blackbirds.
I don't think I've ever seen film for sale like this?