Over the hill

Getting on for a week ago, for some reason I decided to go over West Hill via Meadway, rather than via Manor Green Road. Probably short of time for some reason or another.

To find that cars had spread to the stretch running down to Manor Green Road, a stretch which can be a bit of a push on a bicycle first thing in the morning, a stretch which I used to know well in my Jubilee Way days; days rooted in the plague. See, for example, reference 1.

It being around 11:00, I don't think that the cars belonged either to residents or to parents of children at the nearby school. So tight fisted and thoughtless commuters it has to be.

Around the corner to find a discarded trolley from Sainsbury's, a long way from its probable home at Kiln Lane.

One of the ones carrying a maintenance record from Wanzl, with this one having been last looked at in June 2025. I have never seen a lorry or van in Wanzl livery, so perhaps Sainsbury's recycles its trolleys through some regional maintenance centre.

Daffodils were starting to poke through on the Meadway roundabout, not really visible here. The roundabout which once contained rose beds, back in the days when we had responsible residents. Over the years, I have had occasion to rotate or reinstate the sign in the middle from time to time, after the attentions of nocturnal youth on their way home from town.

For the avoidance of doubt.

After my bit of shopping, after much cogitation, I decided to go home the way that I had come, rather than completing some circuit or other. That way, collecting the trolley and taking it home, pending return to Kiln Lane would be an option. It was unlikely to happen on a second, afternoon outing.

Trolley just about visible, behind the cone, mostly behind the bush. None of the adjacent residents had thought to do anything about it in the intervening half hour or so, which meant that I was able to take it home, where I found room in the garage for it, away from prying eyes.

Note the pruning of the chestnut trees behind: pruning from which the trees seem to recover fast enough, although I believe that this amount of cutting does eventually weaken the tree. Lets disease in.

The active part of the day closed with yet another Scrabble which broke the 600 point barrier, with BH winning reasonably conclusively - both of which seems to be happening more often since our holiday. Events which are consistent with BH doing better, perhaps trying a bit harder - rather with any hangover from the holiday on my part. Good.

I am reasonably sure that all the words present are to be found in our trusty Longman's. Where we are told, for example, that a 'zo' is a sort of Tibetan cow.

Wikipedia seems to prefer a different spelling at reference 2, but then we don't rely on Wikipedia for Scrabble.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/07/indian-bean-tree.html.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzo.

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