To the market

Just a fortnight ago, a morning stroll around town to visit what we are pleased to call the Farmers' Market - a curious term in that one does not generally want to buy retail what farmers grow wholesale. When did you last buy wheat or oats? Or a cow? But quibbling aside, on this occasion we did have one nurseryman and one fruit grower. The nurseryman selling plants for the garden and the fruit grower selling apples and fruit juices, also mainly apple.

Plus the usual contingent of people selling expensive grocery items - honey, cheese (foreign), olives and so forth - and street food.

I took a bag of russets and a bottle of apple and pear juice. I learned that the bank took a percentage rather than a percentage plus a transaction fee - so 1.7% for a card transaction, compared with 1.4% for taking in his cash - so from his point of view he was happy with either - pointing out that he did not have the bother of cash with card - or the higher risk of theft by staff or others. He alluded to theft by partner (standing by), but I failed to remember about my Canadian aunt's story about squirrel accounts in time: her story being that it was normal for north American housewives in the second half of the twentieth century to squirrel away something from the household expenses against eventualities like the husband doing a runner. Or perhaps doing a runner oneself if the husband turned nasty.

Got to the top of Hook Road to find a party of litter pickers out from the World Church of God - and while some of them may well have come from South Korea, there were plenty who did not. Perhaps that sort of outfit attracts all kinds of waifs and strays. They were in a compact group, so presumably they had not arrived at their litter picking zone for the day, when one might have thought that spreading out would be in order.

Then outside the creationists' dormitory block, a trolley from Homebase, snapped above. No idea what is was doing there, as I believe our Homebase has shut. A belief which was confirmed at reference 2. This trolley was in good condition, so presumably it has been in someone's garage, as one is hardly going to push it from Reigate or Horsham. But a challenge of sorts I suppose - and it should not take someone reasonably young and fit more than a couple of days. With one's overnight gear in the basket. Just need to mark down a suitable hostelry for the overnight stop.

Down the Screwfix passage, where I wondered whether this blackberry shoot was going to make it to the fence in time. I have picked blackberries here in the past, but someone has cut them back.

Then is the builder doing the work noticed at reference 3 going to mend the pavement when he has finished? A pavement which, I might say, has got a lot worse in the intervening couple of weeks. Can't take the heavy traffic.

Then a bit further on, a memorial shot of two trees which are coming down. Not pretty, but they have been there longer than we have been in Epsom. Half moon visible above. The old lady who had them, had kept them out of respect for her late husband, who liked them, but the new people have got new ideas. Sorry to see them go, but I can see that they are bit big, right outside one's front door.

The haul. The bag of veggie biscuits left was found in the road, open, but the bags inside were still sealed, so they did for us. The apples were not bad considering the time of year, but I did end up cooking half of them. With their not turning out quite as well as I had hoped, probably because I do not stew apples often enough to know their foibles. Maybe I should have added a few cloves? But they went down fast enough for all that.

A bit later on, we just missed making the 600 on our afternoon game of Scrabble. But given that we had made it a little more than a month ago, as noticed at reference 4, I suppose we had done well to get so close so soon.

While the challenge for Google Images was this vigorous looking plant by our front path. A bit too vigorous for a foxglove, so maybe Google has got it right with common mullein or Verbascum thapsus. If he is right, if this is a second year plant and if BH does not dig it out, we will know soon enough as the yellow flowers are very distinctive. See reference 6 for an earlier sighting.

PS: later on Sunday: I have now learned that the mullein was indeed culled. Not appropriate to that location. Not part of the culling decision, but it is also the case that it would not have got much sun there from mid morning, and I dare say such a big thing does like sun. 

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/09/trolley-529.html. The last occasion I used the fruit grower from Bessborough. Seemingly without website, but they are to be found on Facebook.

Reference 2: https://www.homebase.co.uk/.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/04/chicken-dinner.html.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/02/scrabble.html.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbascum_thapsus.

Reference 6: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/06/giant-weed.html.