please empty your brain below
If they were Heifers then they haven't reached sexual maturity.

http://www.wikihow.com/Tell-the-Difference-Between-Bulls,-Cows,-Steers-and-Heifers

| 08.06.16 - 8:32 a.m. | #

Brings back memories of travelling that line to get to Reading from Newbury as a teenager for shopping and the cinema and having to get the train which stopped at Theale, aldermaston and midgham and no one ever got off a midgham.

We used to go sailing at Theale on the gravel pit and your dragonfly description reminded me that there were hundreds which used to come and sit on the boat as we sailed.

Rachel | Homepage | 08.06.16 - 8:54 a.m. | #

I remember Aldermaston back in the late 50's and early 60's every Easter with my parents. Ban the Bomb.

Michael | 08.06.16 - 8:55 a.m. | #

Never thought my local petrol station would get a mention on DG's blog!

The Rowbarge is excellent, as is The Spring Inn on the A4 at Aldermaston.

| 08.06.16 - 9:19 a.m. | #

Does the drinking fountain still work? Bet not. They never do.

David | 08.06.16 - 9:24 a.m. | #

Bullocks. One of my favourite ever sentences from DG!

Al | 08.06.16 - 9:33 a.m. | #

Delightful!
I love a canal-side stroll and that sounds particularly picturesque.

Cornish Cockney | 08.06.16 - 10:33 a.m. | #

You could have given the landowner a poke in the eye by opening the gate and letting the stock out....

GA Annie | 08.06.16 - 11:22 a.m. | #

Glad you seemed to have enjoyed your day out, to follow up your visit to Newbury a few months back. A nice photo of Midgham station but what is missing? Answer: any apparent sign of the gantries for the continuingly delayed electrification scheme, running years behind schedule for reasons of incompetence that rival TfL and bus stop M! What will be of interest will be whether, when electrification eventually arrives, the service frequency along the line is increased and, in particular, what impact such an increase will have on local road traffic given the significant number of level crossings in the Kennet valley.

A local | 08.06.16 - 11:58 a.m. | #

I wonder if the stationmaster got packages for Mitcham after changing the name...?

solar penguin | 08.06.16 - 12:17 p.m. | #

Beautiful photos looked like you had lovely weather for it! The Kennet & Avon canal is indeed lovely. There is a turf sided lock still somewhere around there.

Jon Combe | 08.06.16 - 12:34 p.m. | #

I did visit Douai Abbey a few years ago, for a concert to mark, I think, the 20th anniversary of its completion. (Or it may have been the 80th anniversary of its dedication) I recall it as having been up a very steep hill from the station - it was a long time in the building, and the architecture reflects that.

(You can definitely see the join!)
[photo]

The acoustics are fantastic though.

timbo | 08.06.16 - 12:37 p.m. | #

To answer A local...

Electrification is now only expected to be complete in December 2018 so if you compare with what's already been done on the Goblin, completion date February 2017 though new trains not until 2018, I'd expect to see nothing.

Oh and as for a service boost, don't expect anything much. I believe it will be an hourly all stations as far as Newbury.

ap | 08.06.16 - 1:41 p.m. | #

I look forward to Reading West (if that's the bottom of the table) in due course.

Least used in Middlesex will require new depths of pedantry I think.

Mike D (in Surrey) | 08.06.16 - 3:08 p.m. | #

There's plenty of scope for walks in this area. A few years ago I took North West London Ramblers there for a walk via Bucklebury Common to the excellent Pot Kiln pub at Frilsham and back. (Note to self - must do another walk out that way soon!)

Stephen Bird | 08.06.16 - 4:48 p.m. | #

Never, ever, underestimate the bullocks...they very unlikely to mooooove over

Grumpy Anon | 08.06.16 - 5:25 p.m. | #

@solar pengion
"I wonder if the stationmaster got packages for Mitcham after changing the name...?"

Wolverhampton was on the Great Western Railway, and had direct trains from Paddington, but it is unlikely that anyone on the GWR would have heard of Mitcham. After all, it didn't exist in the mnds of most Londoners until this month.
http://content.tfl.gov.uk/standard-tube-map.pdf

timbo | 08.06.16 - 5:38 p.m. | #

"Least used in Middlesex will require new depths of pedantry I think. "

Presumably Sudbury & Harrow Road, unless some exclave of former Middlesex now in Herts or Surrey has a better claim. (Kempton Park perhaps?)

timbo | 08.06.16 - 5:45 p.m. | #

@Mike D (in Surrey)
"I look forward to Reading West (if that's the bottom of the table) in due course."

DG says he's only doing "the least used station in each county," and that he's only doing "traditional counties." So, we shouldn't be seeing Reading West as Midgham is the entry for Berkshire.

shirokazan | 08.06.16 - 7:06 p.m. | #

Unless I'm mistaken the school at Douai Abbey closed down quite a few years ago. It has quite an interesting history with its connections to the strong presence of recusant Catholicism in this part of Berkshire (including bits that are now and since 1974- one might almost say sacriligiously) considered parts of Oxfordshire

Dominic H | 08.06.16 - 7:38 p.m. | #

Reading West had 385k passengers last year so is nowhere near any least used station list.

greatkingrat | 08.06.16 - 8:33 p.m. | #

OK, how about Dorking West !

Mike D (in Surrey) | 09.06.16 - 12:40 a.m. | #

Wait and see :)

Further potential spoilers will be deleted...

diamond geezer | Homepage | 09.06.16 - 1:05 a.m. | #

The school at Douai Abbey has indeed closed, but there is another school, Elstree School, in the same neighbourhood.

The community of Douai Abbey was previously at Douai, in France, but should not be confused with the original Benedictine community of Douai, which is now at Downside. The present Douai community moved into the buildings there after the Downside lot moved out. Both are distinct from the English College of Douai, from which are descended both St Edmund's College, Ware, and Allen Hall, Chelsea. It's all quite simple really.

Andrew M | 09.06.16 - 9:41 p.m. | #











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