psmv5: Trolleyfest

As previously advertised, for example at references 1, 2 and 3, the festival to celebrate the collection of 1,000 trolleys, came off about a fortnight ago. Rather to my surprise, the two places I had thought to patronise for the purpose were fully booked more than a week out, so we settled for the Wolseley at London Bridge, which turned out to be a fine establishment, fashioned out of the perfume department of a big department store. And before that, something to do with insurance.

The stand which I had made to display home-made birthday cards during the plague had one of its occasional outings. Side two visible above. The other side can be seen at reference 1.

The rules

Trolleys had to be found at least a little distance away from their home store and returned. With any litter therein being disposed of on the way. Nearly all of this took place in and around Epsom.

In the case that the trolley was no longer fit for customer use, it was to be returned to the back door, rather than to the regular trolley stack.

Capture on Epsom Market Square, in the Ashley Centre, in the Ashley Centre car park or anywhere within the perimeter of the Sainsbury’s site at Kiln Lane was not admissible.

Capture of several trolleys at once – which was often convenient – counted as one on each occasion. Often described as ‘find a friend’.

Hunting for trolleys off my usual round was not considered very sporting, although it did happen from time to time. I was supposed to come across them in the ordinary course of business, not go looking for them.

Trolleys from private land, forecourts, front gardens and so on, were not considered very sporting, although it did happen from time to time.

Note: as it turned out, nearly all the trolleys were made by Wanzl (reference 8), although TMS Services of Cricklade were starting to push in. I think a recycling rather than a manufacturing operation.

The ticket above was snapped on this very day, on a trolley on Station Approach. Did it start life with Wanzl?

Other collections

The most recent piano, Wellingtonia and fake are to be found at references 5, 6 and 7 respectively. Car registrations numbers too - but it has been a long time since reference 8.

Washers will probably not be promoted from worksheet to posting.

Batches of bread get their own worksheet and occasional notice here. Presently finishing the second loaf of batch No.760. With the most recent, illustrated notice being batch No.754 at reference 16. The first occasion on which I did not pre-heat the oven. Putting the risen dough in a cold oven is now standard.

The festival

Kicked off at the NCP car park at Station Approach. Minor irritation in that the signage does not include the car park number and if one is not into square codes, one is reduced to using the search facility. But it did work. BH was designated driver.

While the train to London Bridge, unusually, ran via Mitcham and was non-stop from Mitcham Eastfields, a station that did not exist when we first came to Epsom and which we have used at least once.

More flashing lights on shut eyes from the low flying sun. An interesting display and I wondered whether there was an optimum frequency for this sort of thing; perhaps around 1Hz.

River looking well at 17:00. The Custom House behind trees which are barely visible at reference 2. Old Billingsgate to its left. The naval uncle's H M S Belfast across the river. My last visit to Tower Bridge, in the middle, is noticed at reference 15.

Quite a respectable mobile crane, even if I did not manage to get it all in. Or even capture the name of the outfit which supplied it. Careless of me. But the church to the right is that of St. Magnus the Martyr, in the Anglo-Catholic tradition, which probably means that it is well worth a visit. Maybe next time I am on the cheese run. See references 10.

And so to our rendezvous at the Walrus and Carpenter, behind the Monument and to be found at reference 11. A perfectly respectable establishment selling perfectly respectable beer, but I was surprised to find that their bitter, right, was actually made by the Doombar people at St. Austell. In my innocence, I had thought that Nicholson's was a brewer. A few clicks and I now know that there was once a brewer of this name, which after various vicissitudes wound up as a flotilla of public houses in the Mitchells & Butlers fleet. See reference 12.

Heritage stairs. Complete with a window offering a fine view of the Shard in the late afternoon light.

The monument was looking well too, although this snap does not do it justice.

At some point we passed a sign for Candlewick Ward. I have failed to find an intelligible map of same, but I think the Monument and the Wolseley are in, but the Walrus is out.

And so into the Wolseley to score the piano noticed at reference 8. Someone had spent a lot of time and money on what was a very handsome restaurant. A lot of black and white. But it remains a bit of a puzzle why a department store in such a location would not work; a location with more people with money to the square inch than anywhere else in the kingdom. As it happened, one of our party remembered having done Christmas shopping in the place in days gone by.

We settled for a light Italian white which I thought did us rather well.

All you could possibly want to know about it, lifted from reference 13a. For the avoidance of doubt, chosen from the list without reference to the data sheet.

Plenty of winery snaps to be seen at reference 13b. Established in 1968, just about the time that I was a first year undergraduate student, in the days when there were lots of lefty students. It was also the time of the Vietnam War, another wrong-headed intervention in the affairs of far-off others involving a great deal of death. Although the place seems to be doing well enough now, more than half a century later.

Maybe close-up, one can see the scars. Some of the many lives which must have been wrecked, in one way or another.

A fine crab starter for me, quite like the one I had had at the Colbert some months previously, possibly from the same stable. Bread front left a lot better in the mouth than it looks here.

Steak tartare on my left, something I have yet to work myself up to. Steak knives from Varick rather than the Laguiole to be found in better establishments. That said, I can't find the knives in question at reference 14, but I can find some Laguiole with rather strange blades. Perhaps they are all one big happy family.

Snapped above, in case I get around to checking.

And followed by a Soufflé Suisse on my right. Not something that I have seen for many years, home or abroad.

Some of us went for the steamed short rib pudding, said to be a speciality of the house.

About the same size as the steak and kidney pudding you might get from Wetherspoon's, but it came with a rich gravy and was hugely more filling than it looks. I did not think to ask for gravy on the side, but, even so, the pie was very good and the gravy went well with the white bread.

Supplemented by a portion of savoy cabbage garnished with bacon. Not bad, but the cabbage was rather white and the bacon was rather salty.

Some interesting desserts were taken, but I suspect that I was rather too full of pudding.

The head waiter (from Portugal) knew his stuff and the place was not very busy, so he was able to take an interest in the matter of trolleys. On result of which is snapped above. It all made for a properly festive atmosphere.

More Shard, this time on our way back across London Bridge. We had thought about staying up in town, but anywhere anywhere near London Bridge or Waterloo was going to be a lot on Saturday night and, given a half hourly service from London Bridge to Epsom, we thought we might just as well go home and wake up in our own bed.

And then, on the way over, I was almost taken in hand by a young lady, presumably also on her way home after a night in town. Second time that this has happened in as many weeks.