Trolleys 702 and 703

Two B&M trolleys at the foot of the ramp leading down from Station Approach to the Kokoro Passage. More or less mint condition.

Returned to the small stack at the front of the shop, where I failed to extract the token or coin in the handle lock which was my due. It may have been a token as the handle lock did explain that tokens were apt to jam the mechanism.

While a few feet away a young lady, perhaps three or four years old, was having a tantrum because her Mum had elected to use a basket rather than a trolley. 'My need a trolley now' song at full blast.

A long time ago, more than fifty years ago now, I owned a bright yellow Claud Butler bicycle, at the time a respectable brand. So I was interested to see this one, propped up outside Lloyd's bank at the crossroads. Perhaps it had come out of long term storage at the back of some garage? The red enamel looked a bit tired in places and the front forks & front wheel had been replaced at some point. Very old-style bicycle lock. Some pensioner's relic of student days?

At about the time that I bought it, I was taking an interest in Condor Cycles, then and now in Gray's Inn Road. At that time they made cycles, which was far too strong for me, so I have no idea now whether or not I bought the Claud Butler from them. Sensible number of gears as I recall, that is to say not the 27 sported by my current Trek - of which I use two or three. And at one point the bottom bracket seized up, luckily at a time when a neighbour's son was the sort of Royal Engineer who knew about these things. Later on, I had a Dawes cycle and more recently the Trek. There were probably some small gaps and there were probably others: maybe it will all start coming back to me.

Trolley 703, from Sainsbury's for a change, was picked up underneath the railway arch at the junction of the High Street and East Street.

Having been distracted at the top of Kiln Lane by a chap whom I think wanted to catch a bus to Dorking - having ascertained that he had money about him, I thought it best to direct him to the railway station  - I marched my trolley past Kiln Lane and by the time I realised my mistake, I decided that Fairview Road was the way forward, taking me into the top corner of the car park. The only catch with that being that as I went down the ramp to the car park, I passed the gadget which engages the wheel lock when you pass it. So it did, making it a slightly awkward walk to the nearest trolley stand. Front right in the snap above.

And so on to Ewell Village, by the back way.

Now at reference 1, I noticed an odd gentleman with one of those unpleasant & dangerous Bully dogs. So today, outside Bourne Hall, there was another. With the difference that this one looked quite old as well as scruffy - and was completely naked. Bully dog on lead, but not, I think muzzled. Only having my umbrella for defence, I kept out of the way, leaving it to one of the shopkeepers to summon help if they thought that was the way forward. Presumably mental health issues or dementia.

And so on to Longmead Road where a couple of trees had been mostly taken down. I imagine the two trunks would be dealt with in a day or so. The work of Chain Saw Volunteers (5th Royal Longmead 'B' company). I could not see what was wrong with the trees, but I dare say there was something, 5th Longmead companies not being into the more or less gratuitous felling which I used to think was very much the form on Epsom Common. Not to mention the once leafy streets of Sheffield. See, for example, reference 4.

PS 1: home to read at reference 5 all about the failure of our political system to deliver debate and choice during our general election. What I didn't read of and can't offer is a medicine to fix the failure. Maybe Labour, if they win by a big margin, will initiate a real debate and offer some real choice. But in the meantime, all very depressing.

PS 2: I woke the next morning, that is to say this Tuesday morning, that lack of debate is perhaps one of the defects of our party system manned by career politicians. Carrying the party forward and themselves with it can all too easily become more important than what one might think were the real issues. Supplement the politicians with citizens' assemblies in which citizens are barred from serving more than one term?

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/06/trolleys-700-and-701.html.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claud_Butler.

Reference 3: https://www.condorcycles.com/.

Reference 4: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/search?q=chain+saw+volunteers.

Reference 5: UK election draws a veil of silence over bitter economic truths: Neither major political party wants the debate that the country needs about taxes, spending and structural reform - Martin Wolf, Financial Times - 2024.

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