Trolley 733

A Sainsbury's trolley in Station Approach this morning. Which meant walking a little further than I had in mind, but I captured it anyway. Having got through the new-to-me branding stuck to the handle and the advertising panel in the basket, the back of which is visible right.

Did my business with Ben the Butcher in Upper High Street and then made my way to Kiln Lane. Where Sainsbury's are part way through a major refurbishment, part of which is a move to glass fronted cupboards from open display. Part, I think, of their trying to do something about the epidemic of thieving - an epidemic which must be putting a few percent onto the prices that the rest of us have to pay. But what with their moving all their goods around the shop and putting the squeeze on checkout ladies, lots of customer ladies of BH's generation - including BH herself - are not best pleased.

Part of the deal looks to be repairing the boundary fences.

And part of the process is a large tent in the car park, presumably for the temporary storage of stuff while things are moved around inside. The sort of tent which I remember appearing in the course of previous refurbishments. I was impressed this time by both the size and the neatness of the concrete anchors - not really practical for camping from a regular saloon car. Guy ropes and tent pegs it will have to be.

But like the regular refurbishments of public houses, all to be paid for by the customers, some of whom don't give a toss about the décor. And we are unlikely to stop using Sainsbury's even if the décor is a bit tired: it is the most convenient supermarket for us by a fair stretch. Plenty of slack there. That said, I do like the décor and general appearance of the newer Tesco's stores and it does make our Sainsbury's look a bit tired! The Tesco store at Ryde on the Isle of Wight comes to mind.

Some autumn life in a line of green alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens), complete with a few flowers. For spring life, see reference 2 - in which connection I might say that I still try to call the stuff blue alkanet. Don't seem to be able to erase that one from the brain. For botanical stuff, see reference 3.

And so back home, via Middle Lane and the Screwfix passage.

[The Cahills’ home was damaged last month in the flooding caused by Hurricane Helene. 'It was amazing to see everyone pull together' Mr. Cahill said. 'We really feel bonded to this community now'. Credit...Louis Cahill]

PS: where, later on, I was interested to read the piece at reference 4 about lots of redundant churches coming onto the market in the US. According to Brown: '... Since about 2000, the number of Americans who belong to a church, synagogue or mosque has plummeted from around 70 percent to around 47 percent in 2021...'.. Which adds up to a lot of redundant churches. For which there are takers, but, as here, it is tricky and expensive. Not for the fainted hearted. But at least the Bible Belt looks to be getting thinner.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/10/trolley-732.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/04/trolley-667.html.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentaglottis.

Reference 4: For Sale: Hundreds of Abandoned Churches. Great Prices. Need Work: As church congregations across the United States wither and disappear, the buildings they leave behind are becoming private homes - T.M. Brown, New York Times - 2024.

Group search key: trolleysk.