Trolley 616

This trolley, from the M&S food hall, was captured at the TB end of the passage up to Manor Green Road from Court Rec. On the way home, so it was stabled overnight by our dustbins. It was surprising how big it looked there. I associated to how big office furniture has looked indoors on the various occasions we have bought a piece of same second hand. Functional maybe, but tends to look very big in a domestic setting.

Returned to M&S the following day, after which I continued on the Kiln Lane circuit, passing up the opportunity of a small M&S trolley near the Spread Eagle crossroads. First stop was the Water Treatment Works, a site where there have been water operations for a long time. But this rather residential building is not particularly old, possibly post second world war. Was it built to house the manager and his deputy? When did they lose their front railings in favour of the fairly modern ones there now? Why do they see the need for this green screening fabric, half down for ages now, when the front garden is in quite decent condition? Do they need to hide their outdoor consumption of marijuana on their meal breaks?

On through the Sainsbury's car park and down the passage where I was impressed by the size of the ivy leaves. Some of these being of the order of six inches, point to point, whereas those in our garden are much more like two inches.

I have read somewhere that ivy leaves can come in surprisingly various shapes, depending on context, but why are these particular ones so big? After all, they are in the shade most of the time, most of the year.

And we had the matter of the mystery mast, noticed at reference 2 and never seen again. On this occasion I remembered about it. But first up, the tree with twittering starlings, not quite as many as the last occasion I noticed them. Plus what looks like a ball of mistletoe.

Then around to the right, there was the mast again, above the white roof. But this time, I worked out that the white roof was the gas depot and the mast was only just beyond it. Only a hundred yards or so, not a mile or so - despite appearances in this snap. Facing Epsom Station, perhaps as much as a mile away, a little to the right of the stretch of track visible.

So I tracked it as I came down and away from the footbridge, and there it was, hiding in plain sight at the entrance to the tip, looked after by one of the fleet from First Line Recovery (FLR), the people who do interesting registration plates. I suppose the brain, on the last occasion, having decided that the pole was some hundred of yards to the south, just was not looking here.

Plus an impressive array of white boxes, which one might have thought rather vulnerable to the attentions of passing drunks, parasites and other anti-social elements. Not that I imagine that there is a lot of footfall on this particular bit of sidewalk - an observation which cuts both ways. I also have it on good authority that while the equipment in the boxes might cost a bit, it has very little value stolen. So it would be vandalism pure and simple, rather than theft for gain.

The condition of the ground at the foot of these boxes suggested that they had not been there very long at all, perhaps just a few days or weeks.

And from there onto the entrance of what had, until recently, been the Tchibo coffee sundries warehouse. Now tidied up, ready for a new tenant, and protected by state of the art, layered security. A camera on a pole inside, then wire fence, then concrete blocks, then serious gate and lastly the van with the dog unit. All very fine, but I suspect that the gates, without proper support at their loose ends, will be sagging before long.

Hurried on home to attend to the fish, first noticed at reference 3. An outing for the fish kettle.

Served with chou pointu, rice and parsley sauce, slightly flavoured with cheese as well as the parsley (dried). Perhaps a little greedy for two, but the 750g of fish all went.

At ten minutes, the fish was, to my mind, a little overcooked and the parsley sauce, just about visible back left, was a little too thick and might, in any case, have better been honest cheese sauce. But I carp. It was all pretty good really. Big stewed plums for dessert.

PS 1: the marks on our pavement, noticed just about a month ago at reference 4, have now been attended to by a couple of chaps with a van marked 'Community Cable' or some such, quite possibly the people at reference 5, turned up by Google on the key 'community cable contractors epsom'. Bing did not do so well. A hole in our bit of pavement, plus a couple more holes a little way off. The clay in our hole, much disturbed with a fair bit of stone and rubble in it, was surprisingly wet. Perhaps just as well they were not trying to dig in the summer when it would probably have been rock hard. Hole all made good now.

PS 2: attention to detail. As I left the house this morning, a chap from a van was carefully washing down the patch in the pavement. Loose cement, silt and sand down the plug hole. I might say that all the (cheerful) workmen involved sounded as if they were from eastern or central Europe: who says we don't need migrants?

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/trolley-615.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/trolley-610.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/trolley-614.html.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/12/rain.html.

Reference 5: https://communityfibre.co.uk/. Presumably the inheritors of the cables under our pavements installed many years ago now, I believe one result of an initiative by one Michael Heseltine. Special enabling legislation.

Group search key: trolleysk.