October 2001...Confusion and Construction
Whilst the flowers bloom the leaves just can't quite make their minds up !!!
Well, there you go, I start confidently predicting that the leaves would start their annual avalanche and pilgrimage to my front path, and what happens ???.. we go and have the warmest October since records began, and flowers start sprouting up in my back garden.... I'll even have to get the lawn mower out of cold storage and give the grass a quick once over !!.
However this has not stopped the onwards march of village change. Currently all three of the main pubs in the village are undergoing renovation. The Queens hotel has recently opened up its dining area after changing ownership. The Oxton Arms has undergone major internal renovation, glancing through the window this seems to include a new partition wall down the centre of the pub and stone floors. Finally as I speak the painters are up their ladders applying a new coat of paint to the outside of the Shrewsbury Arms which is also currently shut so that redecoration can be completed on the inside. I have set myself a target of visiting each of these establishments during November and hopefully providing some pictures of their current state prior to Decembers diary...obviously I will have to sample some of their ales and report back on it's quality at teh same time ...it's a tough job, but someone has to do it !!
All of this refurbishment should add to the ambiance of the village as we enter the festive season, and hopefully the village reaches its target for the setting up of the Christmas lights. I am currently working on my Christmas images and hope to have the sight looking suitably festive at the start of December.. when the Oxton elves will be making their comeback.
During the month the talk at the Oxton Society about Oxton on the Internet appeared to go down reasonably well (even though the computer broke !!- technology eh..can't trust it !!) and I left with a number of new ideas for progressing on the sight. I am personally trying to develop the potential of the Community forum where basically anyone can write about anything. One other suggestion was that people who live in, or have lived in, or around, Oxton could write details about what it is like to live here, or memories of Oxton ...so get typing and if I get enough responses I'll set up a section in the New Year.
