psmv5: Return of the pumpkinmen

When we lived in Cambridge, near fifty years ago now, pumpkinmen used to arrive on the back lawn at about this time of year, usually staying for a few weeks. The pumpkins having previously been grown further down the garden, ranging in size up to something more than a foot in diameter, depending on growing and ground conditions.

They were the subject of elaborate stories in the darkening evenings. It seems that when it was dark they left their stands and went on excursions to the neighbouring villages. As I recall, they were rather fond of the fish and chip shop in Histon and they were chimney competent in the way of Father Christmas. It was very bad form if they were caught off their stands in the morning, but I forget what sanctions might have been involved. Maybe more will come back to me as the day unfolds.

They have now made a tentative visit to us here in Epsom. Albeit just one of them and a rather small pumpkin sourced from the local Sainsbury's, rather than from further down the garden - if for no other reason than it being far too shaded to be any good for growing anything much, let alone pumpkins.

Foxes may be a problem, which they were not in Cambridge, despite being much nearer real countryside than we are here. Although we did get rats underneath the compost heap and neighbouring garden sheds.

In any event, this pumpkinman has survived his first night.

A bit later on in the day, a fine Thames Water hole just by the end of Manor Green Road, with Christchurch Road, one of the main roads into Epsom, otherwise the B280, being completely closed. The spot marks the spot.

The hole itself, not particularly impressive. Some kind of leaking, ancient main nonetheless? But no sign of flooding, past or present. Man in an unmarked car in attendance, but no action.

Pushed on into town to find a fine nest of trolleys in the Kokoro Passage, two from M&S and one from B&M.

One of them was fit for return and further use. Another, the one to the left, had had the basket ripped off the undercarriage, the first time I have seen such a thing. And the third, the one at the back, had had the swivel flap ripped off the back of the basket. Presumably the work of bored young men hanging about town at night, perhaps under the influence of some substance or other. The devil makes work for idle hands. No doubt the Daily Mail would suggest bringing back conscription, aka National Service.

Google's AI offering on the subject. The second and third references offered do not add much, but the first does, tracing the basic idea back to Chaucer. The work of someone who writes under the name of 'whymzycal'. I have not attempted to check him, but there is no reason to doubt him either.