Warning!

A short spin through town on Friday afternoon, taking in the odd trolley and the Ashley centre. Where I found that what I take to be Santa's grotto was coming along nicely. One of the many on offer in and around Epsom. Hopefully the children who are young enough to enjoy such things are too young to be able to scan the free papers for advertisements for same.

A shed, partially obscuring the sign which tells us the Primark really is coming to town. Perhaps like Wetherspoon's and the Assembly Rooms, which hung fire for quite some time, they were holding out for a good deal from the landlord here, LSH.

I couldn't remember the name of the rather grander store I first knew in this space, but it came back to me for some reason while browsing at reference 2: Dickens & Jones, as confirmed by reference 3. I even bought the odd suit from them.

Into the not very big booze section in the M&S food hall, to be impressed by their range of half bottles, not something I come across very often - but a size which is sometimes convenient. The Estrela in Vauxhall certainly used to offer a few half bottles, with rather more at Hedonism in Davies Street. Or at least there were, last time I was there, which must be quite a while ago now, complete with Bullingdon. I remember hanging their bag around my neck and under my duffel coat, using some sisal garden twine which I happened to be carrying in my own bag, and then cycling off down to Trafalgar Square. Or is memory embroidering things a bit?

Maybe something to fit in before Christmas?

And so round to the Screwfix whitebeam, back lit by a street light, cunningly obscured behind one of the fatter branches. I thought the telephone did rather well in the circumstances.

While all this was going on, BH was buying a gadget from Ryobi so that she could wash floors without having to get down on her knees, presently inconvenient.

Very pleased when this turned up this morning, only to find that there was not much in the way of instructions on how to charge up the battery (made in Vietnam). A cable was supplied which gave a USB input, but what was one supposed to do with that? Plug it into my laptop?

I started off at the Ryobi website and that was not very helpful, so I thought I would try Gemini, with the result snapped above. Which was all rather alarming. And I was getting a bit irritated with Ryobi. Back to their website, to find that all the talk their was of 18V devices, while closer inspection of the battery in hand suggested that it was 5V.

I asked Gemini again, and this time he said it was fine to use the USB-13 amp socket adaptor which I had bought from Amazon for a couple of quid some years ago in connection with my Kindle. All now plugged in a flashing green, which Gemini assures me is what it should be doing. It is certainly what our rather larger Bosch batteries do when they are charging - but then they do have a separate charging contraption. Work in progress.

While I amuse myself with the article about beef at reference 6, where POTUS is working hard to square the circle that is cheap beef made in the US. The circle made up of cheap foreign labour on the one hand and the expensive home grown sort on the other. The same problem that we need to fix here in the UK - perhaps a bigger problem for us, as we are much more dependent on trade than the US.

I then moved onto the screw-worms, a major parasite and pest in cattle, largely eradicated in the US, but still to be found in South and Central America. A variety of blow fly, which last I remember reading about in connection with shooting migrating caribou in the far north of Canada, apt to be infested with them. Fascinating stuff. For which see references 7 and 8. No doubt there is plenty more out there if you want it.

And a footnote regarding Thames Water. Blaming it on ancient Victoria infrastructure never was a very good excuse, but it seems that not much of the infrastructure we now have is Victorian anyway. Most of it is much newer. See references 9 and 10.

PS: further inquiry has, so far, turned up two federal outfits in the US with an interest in pest control, to be found at references 11 and 12. The first of these looks to be quite interested in screw-worms with 107 hits, the first one only a few days ago, while the second, which looks to be more a suit outfit than on overall outfit, could only manage 1. But I did learn from that one about Brooke L. Rollins, Trump's pick for Secretary for Agriculture, and, slightly to my surprise, she did learn something about agriculture before switching to law and politics. So maybe she is not trying to shut APHIS (reference 11) down.

Combat talk from Secretary Rollins from that first hit:

“This is a national security priority. We have given Mexico every opportunity and every resource necessary to counter NWS since announcing the NWS Bold Plan in June 2025. Nevertheless, American ranchers and families should know that we will not rely on Mexico to defend our industry, our food supply, or our way of life. We are firmly executing our five-pronged plan and will take decisive action to protect our borders, even in the absence of cooperation. Furthermore, we will pursue aggressive measures against anyone who harms American livestock.”

Perhaps, following best practise here in the UK, she will designate screw-worms as terrorists. 

References

Reference 1: https://www.primark.com/en-gb.

Reference 2: https://eehe.org.uk/29572/ashleycentre/.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ashley_Centre.

Reference 4: https://hedonism.co.uk/.

Reference 5: https://uk.ryobitools.eu/.

Reference 6: The soaring price of a steak: Beef costs have risen sharply in many countries, adding to the pressure on living standards and bringing Donald Trump into conflict with ranchers - Susannah Savage, Financial Time - 2025.

Reference 7: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochliomyia_hominivorax. The screw-worm in particular.

Reference 8: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calliphoridae. Blow flies in general.

Reference 9: Victorian sewers not to blame for England’s pollution, research shows: Water company excuses for spills debunked by findings that most infrastructure was built in 20th century - Gill Plimmer, Ella Hollowood, Financial Times - 2023.

Reference 10: Two UK water companies lack complete maps of sewage networks: Shortage of data raises questions over condition of infrastructure as groups seek sharp increases in bills - Gill Plimmer, Financial Times - 2024. Plimmer is clearly the water lady for the FT.

Reference 11: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/.

Reference 12: https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/general-information/staff-offices/office-chief-economist/office-pest-management-policy-opmp/integrated-pest-management.

Reference 13: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooke_Rollins.

Survival

The pumpkin man of reference 1 still stands, despite the wind and the rain. Although, to be fair, the top of his head has fallen off. Rather more than a week now.

And left-over pumpkins were going for next to nothing in Waitrose yesterday, some of quite a decent size. If I had had my trolley with me, I might have taken advantage.

Similar considerations apply to the handsome bronze propellor that I almost fell for at a collectibles stall on the market place. £50 in money and maybe between 5 and 10 kilos in weight. Perhaps just as well that I did not think of using my scarf as a carrying strap until it was too late.

Also a day for a good number of sightings of shop trolleys, in town and some quite near home. Maybe there will be some action later.

Striking leaf scars on the supposed tree of heaven outside the telephone exchange.

As it happens, I have been getting on with reference 3, noticed at reference 2. I read there that horse chestnuts are not so named because horses like to eat conkers or anything like that, rather because their leaf scars look very much like a horse shoe, complete with nails, presumably the feeding pipes in life. Looking at these scars, one can see how this might be, but unfortunately, this morning, none of the chestnuts that I pass on my way into town had branches near enough to be able to inspect the scars. Maybe I will get lucky over the next few days.

I might also say, that not only are Leighton's woodcuts much better, much more interesting than I was expecting, she writes pretty well too. Despite the touch of what a one-time correspondent, who knew about such things, might have called the 'muck and manure' tendency in English poetry after the carnage of the First World War. Woodcuts also much better than most of the rather cut-price efforts in the Thornton Wilder book.

And following the film set in Tokyo, a spot of Japanese tree gazing of the principal tree. If one is in the mood, tree and weather are right, a fine activity. Not that this snap captures much of it.

In the margins of all this, I came across reference 5 and wondered whether I had got it right about all the trees in Japan. Gemini assures me that I had: two thirds of Japan is mountain and not much good for anything except trees - which grow because there is plenty of rain and the climate is temperate. Everything else, the rice, the industry and the people is packed into the other third. All in all, a handy essay on the subject which I have no reason to question. One can see why he might well be popular with school children and older students on assignments.

One question - 'Back in 2012, I wrote that 'Japan is two thirds forest, a reasonable proportion of that two thirds being virgin forest; a lot more forest, as a proportion, than almost all other countries' Did I get this right' - and one supplementary.

And round at Screwfix another nod to Japan, in the form of yet another snap of my favourite whitebeam.

Back home, I remembered about reading a short novel by a young Belgian writer who had spent some time working in Japan. One of three short books. Search using that information failed to turn anything up, but contrary to what I had thought, the books had not been culled, with the author in question being Amélie Nothomb of references 6 and the novel in question was 'Stupeur et tremblements'. I shall probably read it again at some point. And in the meantime, we can always ask Prime.

Inspection of the archive reveals that it is 15 years since I last read it. Turned up again five years after that, but not, as far as I can tell, reopened at that time.

Inspection of Wikipedia reveals that she knocks out a novel a year, regular as clockwork and usually, but not always, uses Éditions Albin Michel. What is going on there? 

I associate to Simenon, another successful writer from Belgium who could turn good stuff out, more or less to order. 

And while we are on things French (or at least French flavoured), I was shocked yesterday to learn from Mauriac, noticed at reference 7, that it was customary to use live pigeons as decoys for pigeon shooting, seemingly a big deal in the Landes, where the novel - ‘Thérèse Desqueyroux’ - was set. And that it was customary to blind the pigeons before the off, so that they decoyed rather than scared the intended victims off. Real sportsmen did this themselves, rather than getting their gamekeeper to do it for them. Gemini was able to tell me all about it and about how it all fitted into the novel in question. Stuff which I probably would not have thought of under my own steam. Clever chap a lot of the time.

Shocked again to be told by 'Epsom Connections' or some such, pushed through our letter box at regular intervals, that it is 40 years since the Armero tragedy in Columbia, the damage and the huge loss of life - more than 20,000 people - being caused by mud flows and such triggered by a volcano erupting - and described at reference 9. Shocking partly in itself, but also because I remembered nothing of it, although I would have thought that I would have known all about it at the time. While I do remember all about the Aberfan tragedy in Wales, twenty years before and involving something over 100 deaths, mainly children and for which see reference 9. 

On a lighter note, I went onto read that Eastbourne Corporation was once the doyen of the municipal bus companies, having been started in 1903. The omnibus version of the Father of the House of Commons. It finally succumbed to being starved of funds in 2008 and wound up in the hands of Stagecoach. Read all about it at references 10.

From which I learn that the corporation used to number its buses sequentially, a number quite separate from whatever was on the number plate. Their No.39, for which I am waiting in another connection, was a Leyland which started its life with the Wellingborough Motor Omnibus Company in 1912, came to Eastbourne as a chassis in 1917, was then rebodied a couple of times, before being retired in 1928. Just over ten years with Eastbourne.

A throw back to my recent excursion into the timber content of the bodies of buses. Finding which is left as an exercise for the reader.

PS: coincidentally, BH and I are both reading books presently which involve the extraction of resin from certain pine trees in France, she in Provence and I in the Landes. BH prompted a visit to the Larousse, which happened to be to hand, which established that the resin in question was turpentine of reference 11, a product which made the pine trees important, at least for a while, as a cash crop. One problem was competition from the US. One use was as an oil, or an ingredient for same, for lighting, replacing whale oil, before the arrival of electric lights. Another was as a thinner for paints - and I learn, I think for the first time, that the whole idea was to have a volatile solvent to carry your pigment, which would evaporate once applied at a suitable rate, not too fast and not too slow. The drying of many paints. I remember using the stuff as a child to clean varnish brushes, possibly also in connection with French polish. Then there is the rosin used on the bows used on stringed instruments. And terebinth, snapped above, which I had vaguely heard of without having any idea what it was. All mixed up with the mastic tree which got a mention at reference 13.

I think the turps I remember was being pushed out by turps substitute, aka white spirit, a mineral rather than a vegetable oil, with this last being what I have at the back of the garage now. I shall have to have a poke around and see if we still have a bottle of the real thing.

From the Internet Archive, a useful reference from the Wikipedia article. Perfectly legible in the original under zoom and included here for my future reference (to which end it may be found at Miscellanous-16/tp1).

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/11/alive-and-well.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/11/second-impressions.html.

Reference 3: Four hedges: A gardener's Chronicle - Clare Leighton - 1935.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/11/acorn-statistical-endeavours.html.

Reference 5: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2012/01/clothes-line-saga-series-2-episode-2.html.

Reference 6a: https://www.amelie-nothomb.com/.

Reference 6b: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am%C3%A9lie_Nothomb.

Reference 6c: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2010/04/vocabulary-lessons.html.

Reference 7: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/10/french-affairs.html.

Reference 8: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armero_tragedy.

Reference 9: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberfan_disaster.

Reference 10a: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastbourne_Buses. 

Reference 10b: https://www.lthlibrary.org.uk/library/PDF-170-1.pdf. The source of the snap above.

Reference 11: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turpentine.

Reference 12: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistacia_terebinthus.

Reference 13: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/11/acorn-statistical-endeavours.html.

Leaves

The hollyhock of East Street, noticed here from time to time, making a valiant effort at a second showing in the continuing mild weather. It must really catch the sun.

Quite a lot of flower hiding under the leaves to the right.

The two sides of three leaves. The alternate, but near opposite arrangement of the veins of these leaves visible top. Picked up, having fallen from a small tree in a hedge at Kiln Lane. Posed in a Sainsbury's trolley picked up from East Street. With this alternate being a matter first noticed at the end of reference 3.

With the veins matching the lobes - which fade into serrations at the top of the leaves.

With and without clue. He seems fairly clear about it being the oakleaf mountain ash tree (Sorbus hybrida), which certainly fits in with what little I remember of the tree itself. I think he is probably right, although reference 4 suggests that, once again, his taxonomy is a little out of date.

A variety of whitebeam, so a relative of the much snapped whitebeam of the Screwfix passage.

But these results are all very dynamic and when you go forward to the clued version, you have lost the unclued version. Unless, that is, you remember to do the two versions in two windows.

More of the same, but this time a much larger leaf from the Screwfix end of the Screwfix passage. The stalk is as long as the leaf. I had thought a sycamore and Google Images agrees with me: 'The leaves in the image belong to a Sycamore tree, scientifically known as Acer pseudoplatanus'. 

With a clue, he shows that he can be pedantic and that he can disagree with me. He doesn't have to believe everything I tell him - even when I am right!

My own whitebeam. I thought today that maybe it had had its leader cut out when it was young, perhaps in the originating nursery, so as to give it its present bushy appearance.

PS 1: I have now got around to looking at the slim booklet about Linneaus, left in the image above, picked up the other day at RPPL. He was clearly a very talented chap, not only good at plants, but also good at getting on with all kinds of people. Inter many alia, seemingly the chap who, more or less single handedly, invented the binomial key we all use today. As in the 'Acer pseudoplatanus' above: genus then species. (Page 13).

I shall probably look out for a suitable biography. I dare say one of the RHS libraries has copies of his various books, but it might work better if I do a biography first.

As it turned out, his extensive collection of papers and plants wound up in London after his death, with the people at reference 6, but this author does not seem too cross about that. As bricks and mortar, to be found at Burlington House Piccadilly, London W1J 0BF - part of the imposing block which also houses the Royal Academy. They have a library too.

In the way of the 1950s, the illustrations are are the back, preceded by a couple of pages with the captions. Mixing shiny photographic images and type not being possible at the time. Or, at least, prohibitively expensive.

Alston right being another eminence from the botanical world.

PS 2: the hollyhock is known to Street View. The small empty building next to the Common Room, as was. Possibly awaiting redevelopment by Nuro Homes. A six year old outfit, who do 'quality homes sympathetic to their environment'. Plenty more of same at reference 7.

PS 3: for once, a piece in the FT (reference 1), touching both wings of the family.

References

Reference 1: UBS chair warns of ‘looming systemic risk’ from private credit ratings: Colm Kelleher says insurers are shopping for ratings as banks did before 2008 financial crisis - Arjun Neil Alim, Financial Times - 2025.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colm_Kelleher. Clearly another very talented chap: the system worked for him. To think that I already know another Colm from County Cork.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/10/back-to-long-grove.html.

Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedlundia_hybrida.

Reference 5: Linnaeus - Arvid H J Uggla - 1957. Handily translated from the Swedish by Alan Blair.

Reference 6: https://www.linnean.org/.

Reference 7: https://www.nurohomes.co.uk/.

Group search key: botanicsk.

Not Thames Water again

There was a fine hole in the middle of East Street yesterday afternoon, complete with traffic lights; for a change, nothing to do with Thames Water.

I thought electricity and/or data cabling for the new self-storage block going up on the old Majestic site, last noticed at reference 1.

I then paused at the supposed tree of heaven outside the old telephone exchange - to take an interest in the brickwork rather than the botany. Which looked as if it had been cleaned up and possibly repointed at some point. But when was it built in the first place?

I read at reference 2:

'... By now the automatic exchange could no longer be expanded. As demand was certain to continue to increase a new exchange building was needed, and as Epsom was about 14 miles from central London this had to be manually operated. The new exchange was in East Street, Epsom, and was equipped with the then-standard CB No. 1 switchboard. The cut-over from the automatic exchange took place on 20 July 1932 and the Station Road exchange was closed. Local newspapers have been checked but, surprisingly, no reference has been found to subscribers’ reactions to being converted back to dial-less telephones and slower connexion times....'.

So if the brickwork, near a hundred years old, has not been repointed, it has done pretty well. Maybe the corner of the building was damaged by a bomb?

Reference 3 tells me that Epsom did suffer bomb damage during the war and Gemini provides some more background. If he is right, records probably are available - although they would probably take time and trouble to track down and inspect. Maybe tomorrow.

Incidentally, Gemini is quite full of the high standard of Post Office buildings of that era.

The Screwfix whitebeam, nearly clear of its leaves now.

First Line Recovery (FLR) with its custom registration plates, still very much in evidence outside the Ford Centre. Memory says that I used FLR for No.24, but I cannot presently trace that record.

I forgot to check on the trolley that was in the stream at the junction of Hook Road and Longmead Road.

And while I went on to win at Scrabble, helped along by a couple of flukily big scores early in the game, totalling to some 150 points, we did not make it to the all-important threshold of 600 points combined score. Missed by about twenty points. Another fluke would have done it!

Should you care to check, bear in mind that we are using the relatively new dictionary from Longmans, rather than the century old OED. Its coverage is significantly different.

PS: after breakfast: I have now run No.24 down at FLR, so memory was right about that. And as it says at reference 4, I was not using the proper post naming system at that time, which may have confused my earlier search. I also find that I took No.30 from the same place - but they have not been good for the still missing No.39.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-quiet-sunday.html.

Reference 2: https://www.britishtelephones.com/epsom.htm.

Reference 3: https://eehe.org.uk/33439/tucker1/.

Reference 4: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/10/a-good-afternoon.html.

Near house bound

But not so housebound that I could not manage a short circuit on Wednesday to inspect the water board hole in Station Approach, last noticed a few days previously at reference 1. All present and correct, with no watermen and no watervans. Although, at least, the leak appeared to have been stopped. Maybe they have to wait for the hole to dry out a bit before backfilling it.

The fungus at the top of Stones Road.

Sadly, the wall art in the Screwfix passage has now attracted the attentions of competing wall artists. No honour among these particular thieves.

A different sort of wall art at Pound Lane. Which made me nostalgic for the bad old days when schools were run at arm's length by local education authorities and did not need to go in for this sort of crude advertising. When schools could focus on children and did not have to worry themselves about footfall in the way of a shop or a visitor attraction. Or who the next  corporate chief operating officer (CUCKOO for short) was going to be.

And the following day, I was able to inspect the Screwfix whitebeam towards the end of a short circuit through town. 

A dreary day and both town in general and market in particular were very quiet.

Plus a rare trolley from Sainsbury's in the Longmead stream. Maybe I will take the grappling iron down on Sunday in case it is still there.

Later on I was able to inspect the all-weather football pitch at Court Recreation Ground, now seemingly finished, apart from some loose planks, about the size of scaffold boards, around the perimeter. Holding down the fake grass while it settles in? Or the glue matures?

Then this morning, thoughts turned to culling excess stuff. With this rather old jigsaw running it very close indeed; it very nearly made it to burial in the brick compost heap.

It survived on the grounds that it was not a regular puzzle, with the pieces neatly arranged in a rectangular grid in the way of today's puzzles. 

As it turns out, inspection of reference 2 reveals that the pieces are arranged in a rectangular grid after all, but the grid is rather more wavy than is common nowadays. Furthermore, it is not the case that every side of the essentially quadrilateral piece is either a prong or a hole: there is rather more variation to it than that. Plus, I now know where the missing piece is, should I ever come to do the puzzle again.

Next stop was to break out the old timber at the back of the garage. Were there any more of the signs of worm mentioned at reference 3. Nil return, with the timber starting to go back by the time I snapped the gap. At least I have been reminded of all the heritage junk held in that part of the garage. Much more likely to come in for something if one knows it is there.

Very little mess behind the timber, and certainly no mummified rat, as at reference 4. I wonder now whether it is as long as five years since I last took a look.

Out to inspect the bushes out back in the bright morning sunlight, noticing in particular the bamboo second left, which has done very well in the hole left by the oleaster. Noticed quite extensively at the time, at reference 5.

Fine show of firethorn berries. Maybe the redwings will pay us a visit this year. With small white, spherical fruits below, probably snowberries, not really visible in this snap, against the sun. Not great in zoom on the laptop.

Plus immature neighbourly figs top left, between the dark and the light. Zoomed and snipped here from a slightly different angle.

I also thought to take a look at the strange grass by the other side of the house. Still there, but not come on enough to be worth asking Google Images what it is again. Last time I asked him, I think he moved on from the Brachypodium sylvaticum of reference 6.

I then actually left the premises, thinking that it was time to give the bicycle a spin, not having been on it this year, possibly not since I left hospital near two years ago, as noticed at reference 7. I have kept up on the Bullingdons, which was just as well, as it turned out than having a short spin this morning was not a problem. I even remembered about the joys of life, on a fine morning, on the open road. It was only round the estate, but a Bullingdon in London is not the same at all as far as that goes.

By way of preparation, the tyres were pumped up and chain oiled. I should have tightened up the back brake, but didn't. Notice the neat hole left by the Thames waterman by the front wheel.

I associate to Richard Church's father who was much more of a 'joys of the open road' man than I ever was. Incorrigible in fact. For which see reference 8.

Proceedings closed with a second, miniature edition of the stew noticed at reference 9. Just to keep us going until the more serious meal with Toby to come. Magic potions in their usual container to the left.

PS 1: the third reading, hot from my email. It is clearly that time of year again! One day we will get there...

PS 2: Toby used to be known as TJ's, one of various incarnations the place has been through in the thirty years we have known it. One result of which is that, when trying to recall the name, I sometimes arrive at T K Maxx.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/10/water-hole.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/10/jigsaw-10-series-3.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/10/shut-knife.html.

Reference 4: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/04/housekeeping.html.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/search?q=oleaster.

Reference 6: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/08/booting-up.html.

Reference 7: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/12/exit-portal.html.

Reference 8: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/08/church-one.html.

Reference 9: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/10/worcester-park.html.

A busy day

A two circuit day, with the first event being what I imagine the floor being poured at the self storage place coming on in East Street, where Majestic used to be. And a long time before them Texas Homecare. A brand I had almost forgotten about when I consulted Bing this morning. See reference 1.

Not really visible in the snap above are the concrete blocks used to hold the posts holding the hoarding. The second site I have noticed in Epsom in the past few months where they found it easier to use concrete blocks to hold the posts, rather than sinking them into the ground, as was normal in the olden days.

The superstructure, coming on fast.

Passing the supposed tree of heaven in East Street, rather than examining the terminal buds, I thought to count the leaflets.

At first I thought it was going well, with there always being 13 pairs followed by a terminal bud or leaf. Odd-pinnate. 

Persisting though, this broke down and things got much more varied, with the one snapped above being mostly twelve pairs. But were they all the same on any one primary stem or sucker? Despite being more or less identical genetically speaking?

Perhaps I need to commission a sucker census project in some primary school.

While a heritage Ferrari, a 1981 Mondial - FCC 81X - was not making much speed at all. Although quite fast enough for me not to be able to snap it. The snap above was taken from reference 3, and my Ferrari was white rather than red.

It must be mild as the fungus last noticed at reference 2 was coming on well at the top of Stones Road. Not quite as shapely, but a lot bigger.

Time for another snap of the Screwfix whitebeam. Starting to visibly thin out now.

Back home to some tree ripened, neighbourly figs. Pretty much the same as the real thing, at least as far as we could tell. The only niggle being that my memory of dessert figs in Turkish restaurants was that they were green. Maybe memory playing tricks again. But then this morning, I think that you have green olives and black olives, so why not green figs and purple figs?

Over the hill in the afternoon to catch a 2015 McLaren Spider, N88 OLS. Not as handsome as the morning's Ferrari, but then, it was not heritage.

This was followed by a scattered procession of trotters coming over the hill from town. Was there some travelling family festivity, or were they just out for a spin? The Holmwood Chase trotting chapter?

And more.

And more.

And more. Is he texting or snapping? At least he is not driving at the same time. Plenty more but that is probably enough for here. All brings a bit of colour to the town.

After the crusher at Waterloo Road, noticed at reference 4, the augur, complete with attendant grout machine. Clearly getting through the surface rubble OK - or someone cleared it away before the off.

Passing down Court Rec I was picked up by two young ladies, perhaps as old as fifteen, one very forwardly dressed. They chatted for a few minutes, then passed on. No idea what was going on at all.

They were also taking an interest in another older gentleman, who turned out to be Italian, who knew all about Alio's grocery, late of Chase Road, killed off, he told me, by the likes of Sainsbury's muscling into the foreign grocery business.

He told me he came from a town between Milan and Turin, the centre of the Italian rice industry, now in danger of being killed off by global warming and the loss of spring melt waters from the glaciers to the west and north. Possibly the Vercelli of reference 5. He also seemed to know a lot more about Italian history than the average English older gentleman would know about English history. But maybe that is what comes of Italy only having been invented in the mid 19th century. And he knew as much about rice as some Irishmen know about potatoes. More to the stuff than you think. See reference 6.

Was he a refugee from the falling need for labour in the paddy fields? Part of some agricultural unemployment problem? Or was he left over from the second war?

He reminisced about the summer heat and the winter cold of his homeland - and the very thick mists. Not fogs he assured me. Not like the last pea-souper that I remember, from outside Wood Green tube station, one evening in the late 1970s. Clean mists, nothing to do with industrial or domestic pollution.

Action continued at the all weather football pitch. Action which had being going on for quite some time and was all much more complicated than one might have thought.

References

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Homecare. A brand which wound up with 'The Range', a version of B&M, of present interest for their range of shopping trolleys, possibly in-store, unlike some other stores.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/10/wigmore-late.html.

Reference 3: https://momentcar.com/ferrari/1981/ferrari-mondial/.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/10/crusher.html.

Reference 5: https://festivaldelriso.it/en/home-eng/. 'In the heart of Vercelli’s gentle plain, the Risò – the International Rice Festival – comes to life. It is a celebration of a symbol which has shaped landscapes, communities, and local identity. An event that relates rice as a heritage and a resource for the future'.

Reference 6: https://www.sustainableeurice.eu/european-rice/rice-production-in-italy/.

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