The power of Instagram?

Minding my own business this morning, heading to Waitrose for some modest shopping, when I came across an enormous queue wriggling way around that part of the Ashley Centre, maybe a hundred yards of it.

Seemingly a kilo heritage sale, probably something to do with the people at reference 1, being held in what had, until recently, been a branch of the pretentiously named 'Jones the Bootmaker'. The imagery available suggests T.K. Maxx crossed with a jumble sale in a village hall of old. Extraordinary how they can attract so many people to what I assume is a pop-up.

A curious feature was that there were all these people going in, but there did not seem to be any of them coming out. Perhaps, having spent your money, you were ejected out back. I think the bigger units do have back doors, unlike the sweet shop right, where I once saw a young lady backing out of the front door with mop and bucket at closing time, suggesting little or no facilities inside. You had to carry your mop and bucket back to some communal facility. The place, as it happens, from where I get my lemon sherbets, noticed from time to time.

On the way back over the hill, I found that the pothole on Meadway had been attended to. At least to the extent of pouring on a couple of barrows of blacktop and patting it down a bit. We will see how long it lasts. Days or weeks? 

As previously noticed at reference 2. Perhaps people with pull park up there who are worried for their fine big motors.

PS: reference 3 caught my eye later. Macpherson was a biggish cheese in my time, but not such a big cheese as he went on to become later. I seem to remember that, in his time at top, he was reported climbing up a ladder to fix a star on the top of the office Christmas tree, because the people who had been contracted to look after the (GOGGS) building said that that sort of thing was not in their contract and they needed more dosh (and a contract change notice) if they were to get a ladder out. The joys of outsourcing!

References

Reference 1: https://www.kilowarehouse.co.uk/#gsc.tab=0.

Reference 2: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/01/pothole.html.

Reference 3: Counting the cost of money in politics: Revelations of Mandelson’s cabinet leaks spotlight the symbiotic relationship between government and bankers - Nicholas Macpherson, Financial Times - 2026.