Trolley 663

Trolley 663 was a late afternoon, after bread baking capture in Station Approach. Another small trolley from the M&S food hall. A trolley which became a rather awkward two, one small with one large, on the way down the Kokoro Passage. Both returned to a rather full stack at the back of the food hall.

Next up was this non-scoring trolley from Waitrose, just inside the doors to the Ashley Centre, not far from Wetherspoon's. Returned to a rather full stack at the entrance to Waitrose, full of both large and small trolleys, for a change.

I was quite surprised by the prices on the machine adjacent, with small soft toys costing around £20. And then there is the elaborate website at reference 2, claiming 25 years of successful history of selling such stuff. Maybe it is some children's fad which passed me by.

Carried on up East Street to find that the Wilko trolley noticed the day before had moved a few hundred yards up the street, being now lodged behind a bus shelter. Also non-scoring.

First thought about the shrub behind was that it was one we had at Norwich and got badly hit by the frost one year. But now I think not, while Google Images offers the choice of mock orange (Pittosporum tobira) or the unrelated Mexican orange (Choisya ternata). I go for the latter on the grounds that the leaves are flat, rather than turning in at the edges.

As illustrated by Wikipedia. There is also talk of it being native to the far East, but having been introduced to warmer parts of the US - and everywhere else. So that bit is not much help.

Maybe the name of the Norwich plant will come to me, or maybe BH remembers.

In the meantime, I checked up on 'fossicking', used by a provincial correspondent. Which, on consulting OED turns out to be colonial in its current meanings, not provincial at all, although there are probably roots in a provincial dialect. An Australian mining term: so prospectors for gold in a small way might fossick about in odd corners of old workings. And by extension, one might fossick about in odd corners of one's cluttered garage, in my case full of odd bits of timber which might come in for something, some day. While Webster's adds the entirely plausible suggestion that the ultimate source is the word 'fuss', in the sense of fussing about with something.

From where I jumped to the next letter and started to fuss about 'gig'. How did this nautical term come to have its present meanings of popular music event or slice of casual work? OED reveals that gig used to have all kinds of interesting meanings including spinning tops, small carriages and small boats. But it is probably the link to 'jig' which does the job, with the dominant meanings of this last being to do with dancing. Plus the French 'gigue', from the German, to be found among Bach's cello suites. Not to be confused with the Easter 'gigot'.

No other signs of April Foolery - it being All Fools' Day - so far this morning.

PS 1: I missed this crane action in Stoneleigh, sent in by a correspondent. Maybe lifting sections of the footbridge into place? Rather to my surprise, given that the name, Ainscough, is well enough known to me, it seems to have been last noticed back in 2018, at reference 4. Maybe they have a special relationship with Network Rail?

PS 2: well known in the sense that when I read the label on the crane, it seemed to be a name and livery that I knew. But I don't think I would have been able to produce either name or livery had you asked me for a list of crane hire contractors beforehand.

PS 3: the homeward leg of the journey was rather blighted by the low flying, winter sun. I had my sunglasses, but they were not proof against a full-on sun, even a low flying one. Maybe I need to invest in a baseball cap.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/03/trolley-662.html.

Reference 2: https://www.jellycat.com/.

Reference 3: https://www.ainscough.co.uk/.

Reference 4: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/06/portraits_25.html.

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