Trolley 600

The target for 2023 has been achieved!

With this trolley from Sainbury's captured just after I passed the end of Middle Lane, having turned off East Street towards the Screwfix underpass.

Decided I was good for the footbridge to the gas depot, abandoned the Screwfix underpass, and headed off down Middle Lane for the big Sainsbury's, depositing the trolley in the newly reloaded stack for smalls outside the main entrance. Where I was struck by how very big some of the big trolleys were.

Inspection of the blog suggests that it is the first time I have visited Sainsbury's (on foot at least) since July (reference 3) and more than a year since I delivered a trolley (reference 2). Exercise really did slow down during 2023: which I did know, but I had not realised that it was as bad as that.

Down the alley towards the footbridge, when I heard a great old twittering, I assumed sparrows herding in one of the bushes ahead of me. Wrong again, rather starlings in the top of a reasonably mature tree.

All sat on the leeward side of the tree, top right in the snaps above. Although they have not gone so far as to all sit head to wind (or is it tail to wind?) in the way of seagulls on a stretch of sand. Word of Bard: 'Seagulls on a beach typically sit head to wind. This posture helps them to stay cool in the hot sun and to keep their feathers from blowing around in the wind. Seagulls have feathers that are covered in an oil that helps to repel water, but this oil can also make their feathers sticky and prone to clumping up in the wind. Sitting head to wind helps to keep the feathers from clumping up and makes it easier for the seagulls to preen themselves'. All looks terribly plausible but I have yet to check. Maybe I will remember to look next time I am on a beach. Summer and winter separately, naturally.

Over the bridge and past the new Travis Perkins yard, where Epsom Coaches used to be. While the front of their old, much smaller yard, has been colonised by still more vehicles from First Line Recovery, not content with already taking a lot more than their fair share of parking slots along Blenheim Road. Are they bunging their neighbours a few douceurs to keep them quiet? A few seasonal bottles of something that warms? No sign of a No.V38 FLR to keep me quiet - as apart from a few high outliers, the series still seems to run out in the low thirties.

Nearer home a festive araucaria, more particularly a young monkey puzzle tree. It has been doing quite well since the bushes round about were cut back a bit.

As it turned out, no time for a late morning tea before the luncheon haggis.

PS: later: Google turns up a birdy website which offers: 'If there is a breeze blowing, seagulls align themselves so that they are facing into wind. They do this for two good reasons. Firstly it requires the least effort and is the most stable way for them to rest – it stops the wind ruffling their feathers. Secondly, they land and take off into wind, so if they need to take off in a hurry, this is the best way to be facing'. Plenty of pictures of seagulls sitting on beaches all facing the same way, not so many explanations. They do not appear to tuck their heads under their wings in the way of ducks and geese, but I nobody I came across saw fit to comment on that. So once again, Bard is in error, at the very best incomplete. And if there were controversy about the matter it would have been good to know that too. I dare say that if I had thought to prompt Bard a bit, he would have confessed to his errors: he usually does.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/12/trolley-599.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/11/trolley-546.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/07/trolley-575.html.

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