psmv5: Trolley 813

A Sainsbury's trolley which had lost most of its branding, a long way from home, captured in the Kokoro passage. I opted to push it home via the passage behind the library, running along the railway line from Waterloo Road to the top of Hook Road.

With all that is left on the handle being the logo of the maker, Wanzl, and a long reference number.

Picking up this large hub on the way, looking like the combined Sturmy Archer and dynamo which some back wheels sported when I was young. Frowned on by serious cyclists who got through back wheels fairly regularly and did not want the expense of a complicated fixed hub. I remember that I went through a phase of needing to replace - or at least retune - my back wheels every few months. Maybe spokes have got stronger and the balance has changed.

This particular bicycle sported the logo of 'Civic Inc'. With the catch that, from reference 3, this seems to be the mark of a bicycle parking operation rather than a bicycle manufacturing operation, so, with this cycle carrying no other branding, I am now none the wiser as regards who made it or what the giant hub is about.

And when I got to Sainsbury's, another oddity, this one in the form of a new-to-me style of bicycle lock, flat rather than round. Presumably with what looked like some kind of fabric enclosing toughened steel cables.

I thought I would take a walk around the newly refurbished Sainsbury's, which did indeed look quite smart, although BH is finding finding it a bit of a pain. Even if you stick to your shopping list you still end up walking the whole store - and then still missing things. Plus lots of things you might otherwise want are a bit awkwardly placed for shorter people.

No brick dates for cooking, but there were chopped dates. BH was a bit sniffy at first, observing that they had been dusted with sugar, but it turned out that the sugar was actually rice flour, which was much more suitable. But I don't think that they will be much good as sweets & snacks, in the way of brick dates. The girl at customer services said that brick dates were marked 'out of range', which she said meant that they still existed, but that they were no longer being stocked for some reason or another. And they have vanished from Grape Tree so we are a bit stuck. However, the Cullompton date operation still exists at reference 4 and a query out with them.

I did chance across the Heinz Sandwich Spread, which I used to like as a child and which came up in conversation the other day, I forget where. I have now tried some on brown bread: not bad but a little smooth (too much guar gum?) and a little sweet. I was surprised to find that sugar was the second ingredient, between vinegar and oil. Salt present, but some way down the list. Unlike salad cream, where sugar was third after water and oil. I had thought that they were more alike than that.

It then occurred to me that the stuff might serve to make potato salad, avoiding the need to chop up onions, and that is where most of it has now gone, although BH is not convinced at all, finding it much too sweet - and she does have a point.

Also struck by what seemed like the huge new booze section - and the huge choice of middle-of-the-road white wine. How much of it actually starts life with the people previously noticed at reference 5 - or other big operations of that sort - far removed from the labels and branding? I was reminded of the huge choice of bottled water - choice which serves no other purpose than to give us choice.