A bout of bad weather has seen schools shut, caused travel chaos and now the 30th annual World Pooh Sticks championships are to be cancelled.
Fortunately the Lambing weekend at the nearby Earth Trust will still be open, from 10am to 4pm on both Saturday and Sunday, but high river levels along the Thames have put an end to any pooh sticking for Milne enthusiasts.
The Rotary Club of Oxford Spires said they were "very sorry" to have to abandon plans for Sunday's charity event at Day's Lock, Little Wittenham but that the water was "still too high and fast to have our safety boats on the river and there's no sign of the rain stopping this weekend."
Philippa Forrester takes part in the championships in happier times
Pooh sticks is a game first mentioned in The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne. It is not an altogether technical sport, but there is a degree of skill. Essentially, one drops a stick into the water on the upstream side of a bridge and whoever's stick first appears on the downstream side is the winner.
The World Pooh Sticks championships were named as Britain's Favourite Quirky Event by the Readers of Countryfile. The Worm Charming Festival held in Blackawton, Devon, came second, while the Northern Ireland Bog Snorkelling Championship took third place.