Trolley 543

The creationists are back in delivery mode, offering this Sainsbury's trolley yesterday morning. Smoking den visible top right. And to the right of the dumpster there was another trolley, but I felt that was too deep in private territory to decently recover. Plus I was not sure about the bother of pushing two trolleys, a lot more than twice the bother of pushing one.

Small trolley stack empty at Sainsbury's. Clearly small remains more popular than big.

Carrying on round into Blenheim Road, I checked the number plates of all the FLR recovery vehicles parked there. To come across the biggest recovery vehicle yet, if we exclude the heavy duty low loaders. The flagship of their fleet? But maybe the first of their vehicles not to sport an FLR registration plate. Perhaps the original Mr. FLR, the one who was keen on that sort of thing, has retired and his son is not keeping up the tradition. A pity, given that once you let such a thing slip, very hard to recover later.

One day I will call in their office and inquire about No.36, on which I remain stuck. I had been hopeful that FLR would have done my business.

In the meantime, I wonder how annoyed all the other businesses are, to have these vehicles hogging the parking. Off snap to the right, for example, we have the large Ford operation. Screwfix visible behind. They might quite reasonably think that FLR ought to get themselves a proper yard, commensurate with the size of their business, rather than free-loading on the public highway. I wonder also where, in the Tories' regulation free world, where this sort of thing gets regulated? Perhaps their idea is that all the businesses round about fight it out among themselves. Let market forces do the business without involving still more parasites from government.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/11/trolley-542.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/11/trolley-444.html. A previous outing for FLR.

Group search key: trolleysk.

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.

Trolleys 882 and 883

This day's circuit started with a visit to the hospital on Dorking Road. But before that, a smart car carrying an FLR registration, which I thought had been more or less monopolised by the First Line Recovery people at reference 2, very much into such plates, some of which have been noticed in these pages, for example No.24. Carcheck says this one is a 2022 420D M Sport MHEV Auto, maybe £20,000 second hand, but gives no clue as to the owner, perhaps a younger son of the FLR family. Only given enough pocket money for '0007', rather than going the whole hog and getting '007'.

At the hospital, pleased to find that while the waiting room had been enabled so to do, both screens were off, and I was not treated to some daytime television about antiques, hotel inspection or some such. I could just quietly doze and await my turn.

Part of the time was occupied puzzling about this floor. I eventually decided that it was some kind of lino, printed up to look like the fake wooden floor boards you can buy flatpack in places like B&Q and Wickes. With there being several models of floor board, as it were, with regular repeats. The occasional grain matching across colour break was, I think, coincidence. A fake of a fake - but it looked well enough for all that. I suppose the next step would be to include debris like fag ends and matches in the cracks between the boards.

Out to capture a couple of trolleys from the M&S food hall outside TK Maxx. One medium small and one small, thus proving that these last really do exist, even if they are not very common. I treated myself to some cherries, the first of the season, for us anyway.

Then a trolley from B&M. Return of which to a cluttered front-of-store, occasioned a bit of muttered rudeness from a lady behind me, pushing another lady in a wheelchair, whom I had not noticed behind me. I suppose it was hot and she was tired.

Round Middle Lane, taking it slowly in the growing heat, and back through the Screwfix passage for the whitebeam.

English cherries, presumably grown on very small bushes under plastic.

Large and ripe in good condition with no duds. With both M&S and Waitrose being more reliable than the fruit man in the market as far as that goes. But perhaps a little too sweet and a little bland. Not many left by the following morning.

Angus Davidson is to be found at reference 6 - but I don't see the sea of polytunnels I was expecting in the snap from gmaps above. Perhaps the Google aeroplane (or drone these days?) went over at the wrong time of year. 

He also appears at reference 3, a fruit wholesale operation, but not in their growers lineup at reference 4. Perhaps his connection is more ad-hoc. Plus his cherries are a little early - at least according to the Landridge calendar, part of which is snapped above.

I suppose Landridge is comparable to the French distribution and marketing operations you get for wine, sitting between the small growers and the big buyers. And the online market.

PS 1: regarding registration plates, I am still stuck on No.39, which a chap at FLR told me was non-existent, despite having found No.38 and No.40 (not yet scored) being quite common, although not as common as No.44. I live in hope.

PS  2: Mexico has gone in for direct election of judges, prompting the piece at reference 7, the only country so to do, although in the US up north they do go in for direct election of some of the people in the justice system. See, for example, reference 8. While the lawyers - including barristers in this country - claim that they are not tainted by working for career criminals. Maybe even making a career out of career criminals. Hmmm.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/06/trolley-881.html.

Reference 2: https://www.firstline-recovery.co.uk/.

Reference 3: https://langridgeorganic.com/. '... Our operational base is at new developed premises in Feltham. West London and comprises 17000 sq ft of warehouse space with two thirds of this refrigerated, from where we distribute nationally. From our beginnings marketing produce grown on our own farm, we now offer a wide range of local organic vegetables, fruit, dairy and other selected organic products from all over the world...'.

Reference 4: https://langridgeorganic.com/our-growers/uk/.

Reference 5: https://langridgeorganic.com/mandarin-or-clementine-whats-the-difference/. Read all about easy peelers. Supply of which from Sainsbury's is very mixed, with good ones and not so good ones.

Reference 6: https://www.haygrove.com/. '... Angus Davison, our founder and now ‘Eccentric Chairman’ begins growing strawberries as a degree thesis project on one hectare of rented land in Herefordshire, UK. Sleeping in the field....'.

Reference 7: El Chapo’s former lawyer to become Mexican penal judge after controversial election: Drug lord’s former attorney won vote after the government introduced elections for all the country’s judges - Christine Murray, Financial Times - 2025.

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

Group search key: trolleysk, 20250617.

Registration plates

Following the No.38 noticed at reference 1, there has been a scattering of No.40s, a No.33, a No.44 and a No.55. Force not quite with me.

But today there was a consolation prize in the form of a lorry at the Ewell end of East Street, with a paint job and what looked like a custom registration plate, after the fashion of First Line Recovery (FLR). For who, see, for example, reference 2. Maybe getting hold of these special registration plates is not as difficult or expensive as you might think. Visit to the FLR office in Blenheim Road indicated.

The paint job was confined to the cab, but perhaps that will change as time goes on. See reference 3 for a sighting of the other paint job.

Rounded off the proceedings with a snap of one of the two young Wellingtonia in Longmead Road. Too young to score yet, but both seem to be coming on well.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/no38.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/09/trolley-534.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/02/new-bag.html.

Reference 4: https://www.djgrabservices.co.uk/. Plenty more snaps of lorries to be found here.

Thames Water

I have been puzzled for some weeks by a continual low hissing in our cold water intake, hissing which did not seem to be accounted for by dripping taps or cisterns - and which I had been meaning to do something about. Then a few days ago a letter turned up from Thames Water telling us that we were getting through 302 litres of water an hour, equivalent to around £5,500 a year water charges. They suggested that there was probably a leak and that maybe we should do something about it.

First stop the home serve people at British Gas, with whom we have been for quite some years now. A cheerful plumber (Dyno-Rod division) turned up the next day and in short order pronounced it to be a leak at the stopcock/meter down a hole in the pavement outside the house. A stopcock which has been causing trouble off and on for maybe twenty years. Trouble which I believe all kicked off when the cable television people drove their moles along said pavement. While the plumber alleged that it was all down to Thames Water using cheap materials.

Second stop Thames Water, where there was a good tool for reporting trouble of this sort. With the result that the day after British Gas had come, we had our hole painted blue. And the day after that, a stopcock team appeared to do something two or three houses along. They assured BH that her turn would come next week. We shall see, but so far I am quite impressed with it all. Leak bad, but response to leak once reported good.

In the margins, I had the opportunity to inspect this fine double decker, heavy recovery combo from First Line, blocking the view from the Ford showroom in Blenheim Road. The lower lorry had been parked there for weeks, but a few days ago it made a move, to return in combo format. I dare say the Ford people are a bit fed up with it.

I think V50 FLR and V1 FLR - but still no No.39.

I was impressed by the control panel on the lower lorry, snapped above. Two day training course in somewhere nice? Or more likely on some industrial estate in the provinces.

A courtyard in the Farriers development near the Kiln Lane Sainsbury's looking well in the late afternoon sun. Sadly, the trees in some of the courtyards adjacent were not looking too well at all.

Also sadly, some of the paint on the new artwork in the Screwfix passage has already started to flake. I guess they did not wait for the concrete to dry out properly after all the rain before spraying.

On the up-side, the cranesbill previously noticed at reference 3 was looking well, again in the late afternoon sun.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/10/bricks-off.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/10/titbits.html.

Trolley 444

A little further on, despite the possibility of more rain, despite the fact that I was on the anti-clockwise walk, rather than the more convenient clockwise walk, I decided to return the M&S trolley, last noticed at reference 2 and still waiting for action this morning outside the creationists' accommodation block in East Street.

Rewarded by recovering a pound coin from the handle lock, and, a little later, by picking up a large, if rather discoloured, washer to add to my collection of same.

A detour which resulted in my lopping off the Ewell Village part of my walk, returning via Sainsbury's and the West Street footbridge over the railway. No No.36 in the Sainsbury's car park, but I also passed the FLR yard, the recovery operation for which custom registration plates are part of the livery and last noticed at reference 3. They could offer two No.30's, oddly sitting next to each other on the rank - surely illegal - a No.40 and a No.50, but no No.36, for which I have now been waiting several months. But at least FLR do not stop at No.30, so there is hope yet.

Nearer home, Treadwell of reference 2 had been busy laying blacktop, despite the rain, which one might have thought would mess up the bond between old and new. Maybe the paver (all known as Barber Greens in my day) includes a burner to drive the water off before laying the new.

PS 1: Barber Green still exist at the not very glossy reference 4. Odd for a company of this sort not to take a bit more trouble with its website these days.

PS 2: one of the Tarmac drivers told me that he had come from Hayes. Which, on investigation, appears not to be the Thames gravel pit I thought it might be. Rather an asphalt plant in Pump Lane, just north of the M4. But the land is flat and low with plenty of canals and rivers - and Ordnance Survey does show a gravel pit in the open country just south of the M4. So maybe I was half right. 

PS 3: abuse of language in that the tar macadam we put on our road only bears a distant relationship to the asphalt they dig out of Lake Asphalt in Trinidad? With the word properly applied to the mixtures of sand and tar (or perhaps bitumen) used for pavements and flat roofs? See reference 6. A hare for another day.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/11/trolley-443.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/11/trolley-442.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/03/no30.html.

Reference 4: https://www.bgp-group.co.uk/.

Reference 5: https://tarmac.com/locations/hayes-asphalt-plant/.

Reference 6: https://trinidadlakeasphalt.com/.

Trolley 453

Collected from a bus stop in East Street in the margins of the previous trolley, noticed at reference 1. A special needs trolley, much heavier construction than the regular small trolley and not, as far as I could see, carrying the Wanzl badge.

Two empty beer bottled removed to someone's bottle basket.

Given that I had the opportunity to take in a few rows of cars in the Kiln Lane car park, and to pass the FLR operation in Blenheim Road, not a bad day for registration plates, with a few 30's and even the odd 40. But No.36 still missing. 

While I don't suppose FLR were very popular in Blenheim Road as they had a dozen or more of the their recovery vehicles parked in the road, rather than in their yard. No doubt much cursing from those who work round about and expect to be able to park.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/12/trolley-452.html.

Reference 2: https://www.firstline-recovery.co.uk/. Their gallery failed to turn up a No.36 too.

Trolleys 998, 999 and 1,000

The first trolley of the day, a large M&S trolley was captured coming into town off West Hill.

The second was a medium small, again from M&S, captured outside T K Maxx.

My third, and the long sought after No.1000, was captured underneath Hudson House, another medium small from M&S. Appropriate given how M&S have dominated the run to the finish line.

From March of this year, so not very old at all.

With a news flash concerning the delivery of No.1000 to be found at reference 2.

The fish van was not present in the market, as expected, but I was able to buy some fish as noticed at that same reference 2 and I was able to make progress on the odd pinnate front, kicked off at reference 3. The wannabee tree of heaven outside the old telephone exchange on East Street. I dare say the new one still occupies a corner of the building, which I suppose is now much too large.

Doesn't look very odd in this first snap, with the pairs just keeping on coming until they run out of puff.

But then, this one does. Plus the small terminal leaflet is more strongly serrated than the others. A function of leaflet size?

With the leaflets clearly being alternate rather than opposite in this zoom of another snap.

While at the tip of another leaf, viewed from underneath, the rachis continues as a fragile lead. I think one would need to dissect it, under a microscope, to be able to say whether there was a pair of leaves on the way, or just the one.

Then more odd pinnate. 

So all grist to the mill, but I did not regard this as finished business. It still seems odd for a fast growing rachis pushing out pairs of leaflets suddenly stopping with a single leaflet.

Out again in the afternoon, to notice my first trolley of the new era on Station Approach, near the entrance to the station. A medium small from the M&S food hall. Zoom onto the maker's plate does not quite reveal the date, but a forced guess would be this very September - so more or less brand new - this despite the scratches on the legs.

With a friend hard by, by the letter box. Both left in-situ for some other trolley collector to deal with.

On round Court Recreation Ground, to find serious demolition underway at the town end of the Waterloo Road parade, at the top of the passage. With the fencing around the demolition having been rather sloppily erected and occupying a good part of the passage.

But I was able to resume matters odd-pinnate with the sumac like tree at the start of the recreation ground, noticed at the end of reference 3. The first couple of groups, including the one above, looked odd-pinnate.

Then the next groups were more mixed, both odd-pinnate and even-pinnate. I am now not at all clear that this distinction is a very good one. Perhaps a bit of digging on the botanical front - as opposed to the plant spotting one - is called for.

But none of the delicate, feathery growth of the shoots in East Street that I started the day with. Is that enough to make them different species. The first the tree of heaven, the second some kind of sumac?

Regarding the former, on the snap of the underside a bit above, Google Images now offers the above, along with lots of very similar young shoots labelled tree of heaven, a lot of them from the USA. But maybe we have a consensus building here.

PS 1: there was something of a muddle on the No.1000 front. A couple of days ago, I thought that I had miscounted, but this turns out to have been result of clerical error during transfer of the relevant snaps from telephone to laptop. A slightly more reliable business in the days when I had a Microsoft telephone and it all plugged into OneDrive. Not perfect, with Microsoft dropping the odd ball, but better.

PS 2: with this post being honoured, after a fashion, by the visit of POTUS to the posh housing estate a little to the west of our own, possibly visible from the top of our downs on a clear day. Our king has several beefeaters on hand to guard his life, one of whom is visible top left. But where are the troopers from the Life Guards proper? Or from the First Battalion of one of the regiments of Foot Guards, housed down in Windsor town? Then who is the serious looking chap standing right behind him? And where is the US Secret Service? Does Melania insist on her taster being allowed into the royal kitchens?

I hope it all turns out to have been worth it. But read all about it at reference 4.

PS 3: I wonder today if you still need a private income to manage as an officer in said First Battalion. Mess bills and all that.

PS 4: a stray: on a number of occasions recently I have done something unimportant, without knowing why, without there being any conscious reason, only to realise later that there was a perfectly good reason, but one which had not been in my (conscious) mind at the time. Not the sort of of dodgy reason that Freud believed the id was hiding from the ego (if I had got the jargon right), just a perfectly ordinary reason that might have appeared on one's whiteboard if one had whiteboarded the activity in question.

In any event, an example of how conscious and unconscious processing are sometimes intertwined. I associate to a slightly different example which sometimes crops up in connection with my sequential collection of car registration plates. I catch myself looking at one without knowing why, then suddenly realise that the number on the plate is, or is near to, the one that I am looking for. Presently No.39, on which I have been stuck for some time now. Getting on for two years to be precise: maybe the chap at FLR (the owner of FLR being another chap who is keen on registration plates) was right and I am never going to spot one. See reference 5 for No.38.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/09/trolleys-996-and-997.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/09/more-breaking-news.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/09/trolleys-988-and-989.html.

Reference 4: Donald Trump soaks up the glory of his second UK state visit: But after spending time with the King, the US president may face a tricky final day as he holds talks with Sir Keir Starmer - James Politi, David Sheppard, George Parker, Financial Times - 2025.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/no38.html.

Group search keys: trolleysk, 20250913.

Trolley 534

These two were captured on the fringes of the Chase Estate, having been there for a couple of days or so. One medium trolley from the M&S food hall, one small trolley from Waitrose. Luckily, the small trolley fitted inside the large trolley and walking the two of them was no worse than expected. Best on the shop floor, OK on the level, but a bit of a pain when the pavement is sloping in a direction orthogonal to the direction of travel.

No small trolleys in the Waitrose stack. Plenty of medium trolleys in the M&S stack. No lemon sherbets in Hatty's. Wholesaler problems. Stuck in some container at Felixstowe (my birth place)? I could have had strawberry sherbets but I didn't fancy them - not that I asked for a sample.

A rather splendid Russian vine in the Screwfix passage. Otherwise, Fallopia baldschuanica, a vine which, for some curious taxonomic reason is also a member of the knotweed family. Years ago, I tried to grow one up a dead plum tree, which I thought entirely suitable, but it failed to thrive and went when the plum tree finally rotted and fell over.

A new to me flowering shrub in the bed outside the Screwfix front door. To be looked up at some point.

First line recovery, otherwise FLR, has been a useful (if rather unsporting) source of registration plates, although they have failed to deliver on No.36 where I have been stuck for well over a year now. This medium recovery vehicle, parked outside the Ford Centre, appeared to have started life with Iveco, but to have been finished off in Poland.

Iveco appearing to be an Italian-French manufacturer, domiciled for some reason in the Netherlands. While Tevor, as far as I can tell, goes in for customising trucks made by other people. See references 3 and 4. It seems that the Poles do more than pork sausages, horse racing, agriculture and coal.

PS: horses because I remember a Polish barman in Vauxhall telling me that the communist regime went to a lot of expense and bother to make sure that the people had access to horse racing. To the extent that his council flat in Warsaw came with a fine view of one of their race tracks.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/09/trolley-533.html.

Reference 2: https://www.theashleycentre.co.uk/shops/hattys-sweet-shop/.

Reference 3: https://www.iveco.com/Pages/Iveco-brands.html.

Reference 4: https://www.tevor.pl/pl/.

Group search key: trolleysk.