Three trolleys

Yesterday was a day of no less than three trolley sightings, involving four trolleys, none of which were returned in the old way.

Starting with one from Sainsbury's between the underpass and Screwfix. Just over a year old and already in the hands of Wanzl Service.

The whitebeam was looking very white.

I had thought, from a little distance, that the flowers had not fully opened but I was wrong. 

The telephone could not manage the flowers in full sunlight, but it did well enough on the ones above, zoomed on my laptop, to know that there are five petals. Not so sure about the number of stamens: ten would have been neat, but I did not get further than nine - certainly not to the point of knowing whether it was always the same numbers. But one can see how one might get carried away in one's study, with a magnifying glass, rather in the way of the stamp collector. Proper old-style country parson stuff, before they changed sex and became social workers.

Sunday lunch, inter alia, involved a very fine apple pie. Just like grandma used to make. Blue and white enamel plate from China, rather than from Poland, from where I think they used to come in the distant past.

Gemini is on the case. Ever so easy just to take his neat little stories at face value, without bothering to check - bearing in mind that he does make mistakes, like the rest of us. But he does confirm the Polish angle, possibly a derivative (in my brain) of having once seen the film 'Schindler's List'.

My mother had a plate very like the one we have now, also used for the occasional pie, and it now seems likely that hers did indeed come from Poland. BH's mother ditto.

Later on, on the second circuit of the day, I came across a small flock of starlings grazing on Clay Hill Green, maybe a dozen or more of them. Birds which were common enough when I was young, but I don't see them on the ground in Epsom very often. Much more frequently in London - for example in Borough Market, as previously noticed at reference 1.

Followed by two more trolley sightings in Station Approach, a one and a two. All from Marks and Spencer. The one was almost brand new, having only been made in February.

PS 1: the previous day, we celebrated the flowering of the fine hawthorn in our road; fully up to the standard of Horton Lane.

A celebration which took the form of a beverage inside the Marquis, the fine Wetherspoon's terrace across the road being full, it being a sunny afternoon. Not a lot of warm beer on offer - or being consumed - although my Doombar (shades of the Shambles off Portland) was fine.

But they did very well on the non-alcoholic drinks for ladies, serving up a very pretty confection of various bits and bobs. And the barman - very young - seemed to know how to make it without having to consult the recipe - so presumably they sell a few of them.

The lady in question was very well pleased. Not cheap, so a win-win situation; just as a trade - in this case credit card coin for beverage - should be.

PS 2: I associate to the Goodwin Sands, also the site of many wrecks, but named for Earl Godwin - the father of King Harold - who once owned them. 

Gemini thinks that this is just a story and that the sands have not been any use for farming for thousands of years. But he gets a bit carried away when I mention the connection back to Portland. Very exuberant.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/01/cheese.html.

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