Trolley 789

The day's small haul started with a non-scoring trolley, probably from the Rifleman side of the Hook Road Bridge. No owning lorry to be seen, nor were there any suitable outlets in the immediate vicinity. A mystery.

But at least it was clear who the trolley belonged to, with Martin Brower specialising in delivering to food outlets like McDonald's. Maybe now I have come across them, I will start to see their lorries. Don't recall seeing one in the past.

Curo action at the Majestic site. Gentle whirring noise once it got going, presumably an electric motor. Not yet computed why there are two tubes, one red and one black. I supposed something to do with lubricating the business end of the auger, but further than that I did not get.

Trolley finally captured as I was heading down Middle Lane, towards the Screwfix underpass. Back with it to Sainsbury's, then headed for the footbridge at the bottom of West Street, the one that leads to the gas depot and the tip.

There were quite a few celandines out in the sun in the passage leading to the footbridge, but not yet in full flood.

But there was a fine pot hole outside the tip.

Wound up proceedings with lentil soup, having intended something a little firmer. 8oz of red lentils, twice washed, then into 2 pints of water around 90 minutes from the off. Boiled for a few minutes, then down to simmer. Plus a small stump of finely chopped white cabbage at some point. Then, a bit later butter, garlic, onion and 200g of saucisson sec. Added to the lentils a few minutes before the off. Served with 5oz of brown rice and greens. We did most of it in that first shift, and very good it was too.

I took the balance for breakfast, microwaved with what remained of the rice stirred in and some fresh greens on top. The greens turned out rather pale, looking more like mutant lettuce than greens. But they were OK, if not as good as boiled.

PS: the gas works at Station Approach look to be coming to an end, with the blacktop finish being put onto the various backfilled holes as I passed.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/03/trolleys-787-and-788.html.

Reference 2: https://martinbrower.co.uk/.

Group search key: trolleysk.

Big washer

I am not doing much on the washer collecting front these days, but there was the weight from York, noticed at reference 1, now a piece of study paraphernalia. 

And yesterday there was the disc snapped above, recovered from West Hill. One side smooth, the other rough, as if it had been coated with something abrasive. My guess was a part of a car and that the mechanic at Epsom Autos would know straight away what it was. As it was, I asked Google Images.

Without any indication of size, his guesses were a bit wild, including something from Streetelite - a motor parts supplier which only seems to exist on Facebook - and mower blade washer - whatever one of those is. I then worked out how to add some descriptors to the image search and got the very specific response snapped above. Which I believe is wrong, although not wildly wrong, with the thing suggested having a dished face rather than two flat faces. More work needed.

In the meantime, I associated to the stone balls of reference 2, more tactile objects, not so big that you could not carry one around in your coat pocket. The idea being that you belonged to some kind of men's club, perhaps a dining & drinking club, perhaps Masonic, and the form was that when fellow members met they had to exhibit their washers. The member either without his washer or with the smaller washer had to buy the next round.

In the absence of any washer, you just adjourned to the nearest public house anyway, for refreshment.

I further associate to a club which did something very similar with ties which were sober striped on one side and saucy on the other, as in seaside postcard of old. I at first thought that I had known a member of such a club, but now I am not so sure. Maybe it was just a story. Bing was pretty hopeless on the key 'ties with saucy images on the back', but Google did rather better. Not quite what I had in mind, but at least he got the idea.

And just to be sure, I fed the top half of the image above back into image search, and he found it without trouble, quite properly not paying any attention to the missing bottom half. From there to the greeting screen at reference 3, which certainly suggests that saucy ties might be part of the offering, but everything in the tie department is terribly sober. And terribly expensive - you pay a great deal to get 'D&G' in the corner.

My washer will join the York among the study paraphernalia.

PS 1: puzzled why searching for 'York' was pulling up so many posts since that at reference 1 - until Edge's 'find on page' feature revealed that the York in question was New York, often as in the New York Times. The vagaries of even simple searching.

PS 2: it came to me later that the story about ties probably came from a colleague at what was then called OPCS, now vanished inside ONS. I now think that he was actually wearing such a tie when he told us the story. Maybe fifty years ago now.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/01/useful-weight.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-carved-stone-balls-of-aberdeen.html.

Reference 3: https://www.dolcegabbana.com/en-gb/.

Trolleys 787 and 788

A Waitrose trolley captured on Station Approach.

And I thought I might as well tidy up this medium sized trolley from the M&S on my way out. One of the street food vans visible top left.

By way of reward, three of their pink grapefruits and one rather elaborate olive loaf, involving two sorts of flour, two sorts of olives (Nocellara and Kalamata), a sour dough starter and 35 hours. Rather dear at around 350g of it for approximately 1p per gram. Not bad for sour dough, but 35 hours and a thick, hard crust notwithstanding, I thought rather doughy and undercooked.

First Line Recovery attempting a come back at Blenheim Road. Must have caught the Ford people off-guard.

While the gas hole outside TB, reported at reference 1, was now deep enough that there was not much to be seen of a man standing in it.

PS 1: the Wikipedia people have yet to firm up a naming convention for their olive entries. See references 2 and 3. So a mixture of Sicilian green and Greek black olives. All a bit precious - as well as a bit pricey.

PS 2: Lent specials from the Texas Mesquite Grill. Of Cypress, Texas. Not their usual sort of thing at all. See, for example, reference 4. I notice in passing that their fish and chips (top right) at $24.95 - near £20 at today's exchange rate - seems a bit more than we would charge. From memory, Fishcotheque of Waterloo do a good haddock and chips for £15 - and I had thought food was cheap in the US.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/03/trolleys-784-785-and-786.html.

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

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

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/10/not-thing.html.

Group search key: trolleysk.

Wellingtonia 119

Certainly one, probably two Wellingtonia in the grounds of Tyrwhitt House, near Leatherhead, the access controlled HQ of the organisation at reference 3. Combat Stress, founded as the Ex-services Welfare Society after the First World War. Tyrwhitt House was opened in 1933 and named for Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt, then the president of the organisation. For whom see reference 4.

Not a common name, so there may be some connection with trade, that is to say Charles 'the shirt' Tyrwhitt.

The old house was once called Oak Lawn, but I can find out nothing about that - beyond the site being deemed to be of no archaeological interest at reference 5. The old name survives as the name of the road. The layout of the original drive also survives today.

What I take to be a coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens rather than Sequoiadendron giganteum) was rather more accessible by the gate - although I could have got a better shot had I cared to stand in the middle of the road.

The occasion also provided an opportunity to take a proper picture of the fine tree captured from the train at reference 2.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/02/wellingtonia-116-117-and-118.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/12/wellingtonia-55.html.

Reference 3: https://combatstress.org.uk/about-us.

Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Tyrwhitt.

Reference 5: https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/issue.xhtml?recordId=1217108.

Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoiadendron_giganteum.

Group search key: wgc.

Fauré and Franck

Generally speaking we get on well with piano quartets and piano quintets, so Franck was the draw for this concert, with his F minor piano quintet. With the concluding phrase 'con fuoco' being chopped off the bottom of the programme above. Plus Fauré's Op.121 string quartet.

Search of the archive reveals a very modest amount of Fauré and rather less Franck. But both these works were new to us. Musicians to be found at references 2 and 3. Also both new - although I have been reminded in the margins that Windows search cares about neither case nor accents, while Word search does care about accents.

Once again, failed to work out what had caught my eye about the white bricks the other week. It will come to me one day.

I don't think it was anything to do with their not being the standard size or shape.

Arrived at Wigmore Street to be greeted by a speeding digger in among the continuing roadworks. After which into Olle & Steen, where we had a couple of small children, one very small, one very lively and very cute. There was a leaking tomato crisis while we were in visual contact. Brown paper bags contraindicated.

We got on well enough with the new-to-us music, but not so well that we will be looking out for more. But always good to push at the boundaries a bit.

Outside, a flash car -  a Lamborghini - with occupants but without a front registration plate. There was one at the back. But my guess is that is a violation.

Google Images says a Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4 Spyder. While my knowledge extends no further than the plaque.

Guess right, with a fine of up to £1,000 for violation. Maybe more for second and subsequent offences, but maybe that counts as contempt of court. Snap above from the horse's mouth. Maybe if you can stump up the £100,000 and likely more needed for the car you don't care about the occasional piffling fine.

We thought to try St. Christopher Place for lunch, winding up at Olivelli of reference 4, which the waitress told us had been a family concern, but had now sold out to a small chain. This branch was called Mayfair. A middle-of-the-road Italian flavoured restaurant, rather smaller but along similar lines to Ponti's of Great Castle Street.

Wine adequate - Vernaccia di San Gimignano Rocca delle Macie of reference 6 - and we learned later that we would have done better with the one on the right, which was off-menu. We had not realised that it was for sale, rather a table ornament, and by the time the waitress put us right it was too late.

Both Bing and Google respond to the search key 'Borgo del Mandorlo - Sicilia - Nero D'Avola', but neither turns up a source, only middlemen.

I started with some rather messy prawns. But they tasted OK.

Followed by veal which had too much lemon on it for me. But they were quick to provide a generous portion of bread, even if it was brown sour dough. And BH was well pleased with her risotto, visible behind.

Their take on tiramisu.

More Thames Water problems outside.

Clever window displays at Selfridges, although you would not know that from the snap above. Involving wind, as I recall, to blow the fabric about in an arty way.

It seemed that there was a new butchery concession in the ground floor food hall, with a butcher who was happy to talk and who had a fine display of meat, with fore rib coming in at £3.60 for 100g, maybe 25% more than Ben the Butcher? He also had bones. And he explained how it was some shoulders of lamb had the leg sticking out, and some had it neatly folded in. All down to judicious application of rubber bands. 

Altogether a much bigger and more attractive display than that at Waitrose of Epsom, rather tired by comparison.

There did not seem to be much food in the ground floor food hall: you could not do a weekly shop there. But by then, we had had more or less enough and did not explore down stairs. Just settled for some of their quite decent kabanos. The chap on the checkout knew all about mincemeat for mince pies and knew that they only carried the stuff at Christmas.

Out of there to catch our bus to Victoria and so home.

Very forward & lively young girl on the train, with her - her sister and mum just down from a visit to somewhere north of Edinburgh. Various fun and games. Mum in pretty good shape considering.

PS: maybe we will get to try the branch in The Cut at Waterloo. The founding branch, in Store Street, Bloomsbury, now deceased, is snapped above.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/02/trolley-774.html.

Reference 2: https://www.quatuor-hermes.com/.

Reference 3: https://philippecassard.com/.

Reference 4: https://ristoranteolivelli.co.uk/.

Reference 5: https://wineclub.roccadellemacie.com/it/wine-club/. 

Trolleys 784, 785 and 786

Three M&S food hall trolleys, picked up from three different places around the town. The first from the bottom of the ramp leading up from the Kokoro Passage to Station Approach.

The second, previously spurned, from the car park which one accesses from the Rio Grill. A very small trolley, but for some reason popular this day, as I saw several in action in the store.

The third from outside Lloyds Bank at the central crossroads.

The timber window frame was interesting in that it appeared to be neither original nor double glazed. Nor could it, or any part of it, be opened. Perhaps that is normal for bank windows like this one.

After returning this trolley, I am fairly sure I saw the second one in action in the store - with the paint on the front leg being much less conspicuous in the artificial light there than it had been outside.

Along the way, I was reminded what a bright and cheerful place the Ashley Centre is. There may be a few gaps, but there are still plenty of people about and there is a good atmosphere. Whoever built the place and whoever has run it since knew their business: I believe that it has succeeded and survived in a way that many similar places have not. But the loss of Smiths, should that come to pass, would be a bit of a blow, as was the loss of Dickens & Jones.

And the column above looks much better for being wrapped up again. The raw concrete with its profusion of ancient fixing holes had looked a bit sad. Which I thought had been noticed before, but I have failed to find any such post this morning.

Back in the open, it was a bright sunny morning, so I took a sit in the sun on a bench in Court Recreation Ground. All very pleasant - and including an opportunity to eavesdrop on chunks of conversation of passers-by. Conversations which one could hear as the people concerned approached, but not as they departed. Which must have been to do with the direction of projection, rather than seeing mouths, as I was looking out over the recreation ground and they were behind me.

Out to learn that I had forgotten all about the bowling green which used to be next to that was the groundsman's house and was now a vet's. It took me more than an hour to bring it back into mind. It had probably paused during Covid and failed to recover afterwards.

We also had a chap from Thames Water who appeared to be taking a census of their drain covers with the help of his mobile phone. All part of the maintenance record no doubt.

And to find a serious gas flavoured hole being dug outside TB. Opening maybe two feet by three feet and three feet deep. Nothing to be seen at the bottom of the hole and nobody about to ask.

Later the same day, a short circuit took in the Meadway roundabout, where I was pleased to see that three new trees had been planted to replace the stumps that had been grubbed up a few days previously. Probably small ornamentals rather than timber trees.

We shall see how they get on.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/03/trolley-783.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/03/trolley-782.html.

Group search key: trolleysk.

Goat stew

Another bright, cool day, with the promise of warm to come soon. As indeed it did. I opted for trolley.

Tree action in the garden which contains our local Wellingtonia. It seemed that someone who had gone to the bother of planting and growing such a thing would tamper with it and I should not have worried: in the event the Wellingtonia was untouched. Only peripheral, small trees were part of the action.

There were people standing in the train by the time we got to Worcester Park. Maybe there was extra traffic for half term. And there was a long goods train just south of Vauxhall, the sort of wagons which are used for bulk materials like sand and ballast, but this train was travelling empty. From DB of reference 1. I thought a diesel electric, so probably a BR 67, as snapped above.

The Vauxhall Wellingtonia was all present and correct. Scored as No.107 back in 2023, as per reference 2. The question now arises of whether this Wellingtonia is the one which is the closest to our House of Commons, the seat of democracy as we (and the world) know it.

Given that I don't believe there to be any Wellingtonia in Green Park or St. James's Park, it may well be the case: but demonstrating it to be the case may take a little time. With the first task being to identify all the suitable green spaces which are nearer to the Commons than Vauxhall Gardens, bottom middle in the snap above. With the above snap suggesting that our Deluxe print edition of the London AZ may be a better tool for this purpose than online Ordnance Survey on this occasion. Perhaps gmaps Satellite View will highlight green spaces in a suitable way?

A trolley from Sainsbury's in Meadow Place, just by the Estrela. Not quite the same branding on the handle as an Epsom trolley. Sadly, disqualified from scoring both by having my own trolley and by lack of time.

A rather curious house a bit further down, off to the right of the trolley snap. How did the houses behind come to be so close? Why is the white house such an odd shape?

Meadow Place not built up in 1870 or so, although the school is there. As is the loop of Old South Lambeth Road.

Turret House below was the London house of the Tradescant family, the 17th century gardeners, demolished towards the end of the 19th century. According to reference 4, the family were victims of sharp practice by one Elias Ashmole, the founder of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

But present by 1893, already in its present configuration, with the buildings behind called Stamford Buildings. So no clues there. Also the Tate Library and what I take to be tram lines.

Off snap above, from the left, the Wheatsheaf Hall, the Wheatsheaf Pub and the Vinegar, British Wine and Mineral Water Manufactory. For which last, see reference 3.

Onto the Estrela to partake of their goat stew, something I have not had there before. Not bad at all. The bread and olives before were better than usual. The fish soup was missing: perhaps they worked out that it would have been a bit de trop with everything else. Passion fruit cheese cake not quite up to its usual standard, a little dry to my taste. But my usual Deu la Deu white white was on form, as was the aguardente.

Don't think I recall seeing a Costa delivery lorry before, with livery or without.

More or less continuous twos from the platform at Vauxhall, all two engined. From the ground, these engines appeared to be aligned slightly outwards. Trick of the eyes or what? Mostly banking sharp left somewhere to the east of Vauxhall. 

Lots of Empire magazines and lots of fat pulp fiction at Raynes Park. Nothing of interest.

The slightly improbably vehicle used by the chap who seems to be supervising the long running gas works at the bottom of Station Approach. Whatever the case, he keeps longer hours than the men doing the work, who often seem to be absent when I go past.

I think there is something wrong with the old iron gas main, and they have to keep digging new holes to find out exactly where.

Crocuses on the way home. I expect they will look good when the sun is on them, which it was not on this occasion. Local Wellingtonia visible top left - undamaged by the tree action mentioned above.

Later on, having failed to get a new copy of  'drinksbusiness' at Raynes Park, I tried the Emperor Concerto on the gramophone, with the result previously noticed at reference 5.

PS 1: as it happens, a very proper day to be snapping a locomotive.

PS 2: slightly puzzled this Tuesday morning, why it has taken me so long to realise that making OS a favourite in Edge is a quicker way to get at it than picking up the pointer at reference 6. A pointer which was created because searching for OS is apt to take you to the wrong place in the OS empire. Some species of tunnel vision?

References 

Reference 1: https://uk.dbcargo.com/rail-uk-en/our-company/our-fleet.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/10/wellingtonia-107.html.

Reference 3: http://www.glias.org.uk/journals/12-c.html.

Reference 4: https://vauxhallhistory.org/tradescant-family/.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/02/new-needle.html.

Reference 6: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/07/more-ryde.html.