Author Topic: Didcot (Read 172822 times)

PaulF · « **Reply #325 on:** 23 July, 2012, 06:38:12 pm »

I shall be passing through on Wednesday....

Dibdib · « **Reply #326 on:** 23 July, 2012, 07:53:45 pm »

Quote from: Dibdib on 19 July, 2012, 10:18:09 pm

I may be popping my Didcot town centre^* cherry this weekend, if my legs will carry me that far from Swindon without failing. I hope the Didcotonians of this parish will ensure clement weather.

^* Sadly not my overall Didcot virginity, which was taken last year with a mooch around the power station. Which was more interesting than I'd expected.

I took a wrong turn and ended up in Newbury instead. Oops.

hellymedic · « **Reply #327 on:** 23 July, 2012, 09:47:45 pm »

Quote from: hellymedic on 23 July, 2012, 05:49:47 pm

David gave me a shiny Apple for my birthday; I see they pre-installed Didcot in it...

Sorry, it was Didot. I (mis)read too fast!

rogerzilla · « **Reply #328 on:** 24 July, 2012, 06:47:04 am »

Didcot is remarkably hard to find from Wantage, since all the road signs aim to cionfuse.

David Martin · « **Reply #329 on:** 24 July, 2012, 02:50:28 pm »

When passing through last Friday..

didcot by davidmamartin, on Flickr

PaulF · « **Reply #330 on:** 25 July, 2012, 07:27:03 pm »

Just left Didcot, but I didn't inhale : D

rogerzilla · « **Reply #331 on:** 25 July, 2012, 07:30:44 pm »

Google Maps has recommended a route which avoids Didcot.

HTFB · « **Reply #332 on:** 26 July, 2012, 06:34:02 pm »

Where it's really happening this summer.

Peter · « **Reply #333 on:** 26 July, 2012, 07:00:21 pm »

Quote from: HTFB on 26 July, 2012, 06:34:02 pm

Where it's really happening this summer.

Fair dos: they may have struggled with the numbers but they've got their flag the right way up!

rogerzilla · « **Reply #334 on:** 26 July, 2012, 09:02:06 pm »

Events include:

Most Class 66 locomotives spotted in an hour
Cooling tower abseiling
400m race down the Broadway (those on the shops side are more likely to have beer cans thrown at them)
Trying to find your car among 200 other black Ford Foci in Didcot Parkway
Swimming in the world-famous flood under the railway arch
Spotting the condensation cloud that looks most like a CDC

and three more weeks of fun.

mattc · « **Reply #335 on:** 27 July, 2012, 07:27:03 am »

Quote from: rogerzilla on 26 July, 2012, 09:02:06 pm

Events include:

...
Cooling tower abseiling

Oi! You'd be surprised just how hard that can be in a decent Sou-Westerley

Jaded · « **Reply #336 on:** 27 July, 2012, 07:46:09 am »

Synchronised train dispatching
Train spotter impersonation

Jaded · « **Reply #337 on:** 28 July, 2012, 06:29:43 am »

Didcot is missing the glowing early morning sun.

I don't care, because I'm just passing through.

rogerzilla · « **Reply #338 on:** 29 July, 2012, 11:44:04 am »

In the 1974 Supertramp song "Rudy", there is a recording of a Paddington station announcement listing the stopping stations for the Bristol Temple Meads train thus: Reading, Didcot, Swindon...

This is not a mistake, because the station wasn't renamed Didcot Parkway until 1984.

Kim · « **Reply #339 on:** 29 July, 2012, 06:50:02 pm »

As some of you already know, I went for an aimless ride on Saturday, and decided to follow some random yellow arrows that I'd seen zip-tied to signposts, to see where they went.

They went to Didcot.

After I'd contained my excitement, and a quick stop at Tescos for some Frijj and Ginsters (where I noticed that Fifty Shades was selling like hotcakes), I proceeded into town. There I observed the one-sided high street, had a native shout a Wiggins-related encouragement at me (while I was travelling at about walking pace, due to traffic), trainspotted a Class 66 locomotive in the sidings at the station and noted that the cooling towers of the Daily Mail were dormant.

Taking a circuitous route to I'm-still-not-entirely-sure-where, I found myself peering at the map on top of a railway bridge, where I was able to take this splendid photograph:

How many Didcot2012 points for a Class 66 in motion and a full set of cooling towers?

rogerzilla · « **Reply #340 on:** 29 July, 2012, 06:57:27 pm »

This is the best Class 66 photo I found on t'Internet; apparently the driver passed a red signal and then some trap points (quite rightly) sent it on an off-road excursion.

It would make a nice Christmas card picture for a train driver, I think.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #341 on:** 30 July, 2012, 11:34:25 am »

I enjoyed the view of Didcot's cooling towers with distinctive tree formations on two round hills just to the north, from the Wallingford to Ewelme road.

mattc · « **Reply #342 on:** 30 July, 2012, 12:12:23 pm »

Probably Mother Dunch’s Buttocks , they're quite prominent when approached from that direction.

They're possibly even more beautiful than the towers (even the Class 66 admirers can see something in them).

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #343 on:** 30 July, 2012, 12:46:45 pm »

That's them, thanks. The Berkshire Bubs, hmmm.... (and what a joy it was to see on Saturday that Didcot's most famous resident does look exactly like his avatar!)

Bledlow · « **Reply #344 on:** 30 July, 2012, 08:56:18 pm »

AKA the Wittenham Tits.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #345 on:** 30 July, 2012, 09:05:32 pm »

That reminds me - I rode through the village of your name on Saturday! In from Saunderton, past the church and the Red Lions and out to the B4009.

Kim · « **Reply #346 on:** 30 July, 2012, 09:08:51 pm »

As did I on Sunday. I didn't stop for a photo of the sign, thobut, as it was absolutely chucking it down.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #347 on:** 30 July, 2012, 09:18:15 pm »

And even though it was sunny on Saturday, neither did I, as I had no camera with me. I briefly considered stopping at the pub as it looked rather nice, but didn't because a) going into pubs on my own isn't something I do much b) I was hungry and made up my mind to get back to Watlington asap for chips c) it was closed! I did stop to look at the church, which was also locked, so I made do with admiring the flint structure and bespectacled gargoyles on the tower, as well as the amazing pond in the ravine next to it.

Bledlow · « **Reply #348 on:** 31 July, 2012, 10:30:28 am »

Quote from: Cudzoziemiec on 30 July, 2012, 09:05:32 pm

That reminds me - I rode through the village of your name

Where my first known ancestor with my surname first appeared in records, when he married a local girl on 28th June 1697.

There's a rather fine gravestone of a possible* relative in the churchyard from 1742, four years after my bloke died.

*Seems too much of a coincidence for two unrelated men of the same name (previously unknown in the region, let alone the village) & trade to turn up in a short time, but I've not managed to find proof they were related.

BTW, guess where the old sign from Bledlow railway station (closed 1963) is?

Jaded · « **Reply #349 on:** 04 August, 2012, 06:32:48 am »

It has just rained in Didcot.

We were musing as to what the worst Olympic volunteering position was. We decided it wasn't being a Games Maker at Swindon...