Our journey to the ferry at Portsmouth in our shiny new hire car - for which see reference 1 - involved at least two stops on the way, the second at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park near the Butser Hill which we used to know during our stay in nearby Hambledon - and which in addition to the usual pit-stop facilities included nicely shaded parking.
The scene just above the cars. A place which we did not visit when we lived nearby - maybe newly opened - but which we have visited for real at least once. Proper time-team sort of place complete with replica iron age village.
A view of the ferry terminal. Looking at it now, on the laptop, I wonder about the mesh covering of the middle part of the pillars, which I had not noticed before. What is it there for? I will probably forget to take a look on the way back, not that it would be very convenient.
Google Images not much help, although it does turn up plenty of similar meshes. Gemini ends its offering with '... Given the typical needs of a ferry terminal, impact protection from vehicles and corrosion protection from the marine environment are the most probable and significant reasons for enclosing a steel column in a fine, cylindrical mesh'. He includes increased visibility under his impact protection heading. Plausible enough, but not readily checkable on this occasion.
A view of the dashboard of the hire car, on the car deck of our ferry at the time. For me, the position of the digital speedometer - lower right in the white enclosure - is wrong and I have not bothered to find out how to move the steering wheel, which might help. Plus the position of the digital clock, just off to the screen on the left, is wrong too in that I have to move my head to see it. Better for the front seat passenger though.
No idea yet what the tricky controls to the left of the logo in the middle of the steering wheel do, let alone how to work them. But I do know that my right hand seems to fiddle more than the left, making the ones off-snap to the right of the logo do stuff I do not want done. Which can impair concentration.
Took our picnic at Quarr Abbey, where we were able to watch the piglets. Noticing along the way that while the piglets were allowed the run of the enclosure, the sows were not. They were confined to their own areas. Lots of jackdaws, not so many pigeons.
We also took in a short service, which reminded me of what an impressive piece of work the abbey was, particularly inside the chapel/church. I would think that they had a proper architect, unlike the people at Buckfast Abbey, which strikes me as an expensive but slightly amateurish piece of work.
During the service, impressive in its way, despite the very modest number of monks available, I was very struck by how odd it was for grown men to shut themselves away in this particular way. Perhaps related to - but not the same as - spending all one's waking hours on one's allotment - or with one's stamp collection. One can only hope that they have a very special relationship with their lord.
Next stop the fine Tesco's south of Ryde, where we had trouble with self-checkout, but where a cheerful lady sorted us out. I have wondered since whether, in an effort to bear down on shoplifting, Tesco's have tuned their checkouts to be very weight sensitive, which perhaps means that it is easy for them to make mistakes. False positives in the jargon of statisticians.
Good cherries, Grace Star from Kent. But sold in smaller quantities than they sell them in Epsom. We had mixed experience with this variety last year, with a down experience being noticed at reference 2.
BH had remembered to bring her Clubcard which gave us a big discount on booze.
They also had a coin machine, although BH told me that our Sainsbury's still had one, albeit a bit tucked away. I have taken to giving such coin as I generate to the Ukraine, but I also associated to the time when I made a trip to London to use an HSBC machine, the nearest I could find to Epsom.
Assuming that reference 3 is notice of the trip in question, nearly ten years ago, I find that I had completely forgotten that the trip was made in the margins of a visit to St. Luke's, rather than being a special expedition.
Greeted on arrival at Brading by a fleeting gathering of noisy crows, swinging around the stumpy spire of the church.
The untidy field behind our cottage, now in around its ninth year. Failed to spot any donkeys at this time, although we did hear them later, first thing one morning, say around 05:00, and later still we did see them.
A bit later on, off to the Bugle to take in their pie night. To take in this tree on the way. What was it? Had it been clipped into shape? If so, what would Google Images make of it?
This (Thursday) morning, using a cropped version of the whole tree, Google Images is confident that it is a catalpa, or Indian bean tree, as last noticed earlier in the month at reference 4. This despite there being no flowers to help identification along.
His identification is maintained with an image of a small part of the tree. Identification which included lots of snaps of what appeared to be clipped trees like this one.
But where are the beans?
I took a pint or so of a local bitter - not Timothy Taylor as the glass would suggest but quite satisfactory - and a beef pie at the Bugle. This last being somewhat damaged by rather too much power gravy. BH was rather better pleased with her pie, possibly turkey and ham.
Vegetables adequate, despite being kept warm in a bain-marie. Chips and French beans in my case. While BH declined the cauliflower cheese on offer as a bit OTT.
We puzzled inconclusively about the 'CM' over the crossed swords. Maybe one of a small batch of glasses made for some veterans' association, with the 'M' possibly being for marines? On this occasion, Gemini does no more than confirm our own inconclusivity. Not enough data.
I then supply Google Images with the cropped version above, who comes up with Captain Morgan's rum, very probably correct, despite this being a beer glass rather than a shot glass.
A bit of gush from Gemini when I feed this back to him, gush which betrays his being raised in the US. But he is right about how easy it is to get locked onto a wrong answer: pointing up one of the benefits of applying more than one mind to a problem.
PS: the glass position above is confirmed by Amazon offering me a pair of Captain Morgan Spiced Rum tankards, pretty much identical to that above for around £20. So not cheap at all. From an outfit which calls itself beerhouseglass and which does not appear to exist outside of the world of Amazon. With a final twist being that this bit of Amazon has me down as being in Ramsgate until told otherwise. Not a place that I have visited for a very long time, so there must be some other reason.
Still not much the wiser as to why a tankard is thought appropriate to celebrate rum. Perhaps an email to the Diageo marketing department?
References
Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-new-car-series-1-episode-3.html.
Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/06/trolley-716.html.
Reference 3: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2015/11/piggy-bank-machines.html.
Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/07/trolley-905-906-and-907.html.
Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalpa_bignonioides.
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