Gas

But I start with the front garden of the creationists in East Street, captured during of an early circuit, intended to avoid the worst of the heat to come. Not too early for Wetherspoon's which was already doing business on their veranda.

The curious rubbish built into the front bed showed up well in the bright morning light. Furthermore, it had been supplemented in this occasion by a pile of more ordinary rubbish underneath one of the front windows.

A bit further along, the flashy white wisteria noticed at reference 2 had been knocked over the heat. Not much left of the white at all.

Next up, the Screwfix whitebeam. Complete with sunshade. No-one else had one, although I did attract one comment.

Past which, the heavy recovery vehicle which had been parked outside the Ford Centre, had finally moved on, more than three months after I noticed the liquidation of the company concerned, First Line Recovery. Presumably the buyer included the cost of painting out the smart blue and white livery in his price. £5,000 for a vehicle costing £100,000?

According to Gemini, the second hand price at auction might be of the order of £100,000. You then have to stump up another £10,000 for tools and chains - which might have gone missing - and another £10,000 if you want a proper paint job - rather than a wallpaper job with vinyl. A big investment, even second hand.

I remember once talking to a young man in a pub who had bought such a thing on his own account. He must have worked hard and saved hard to make up the deposit.

There was then a second circuit in the evening, by which time it was pleasantly warm rather than unpleasantly hot.

This time I took in the large hole in the road in Parklawn Avenue (not Hookfield as claimed at reference 1). Gemini confirmed that yellow was for gas. He also told me of something called graphitic corrosion of iron pipes, substantially confirmed at reference 4. Seemingly a complex process in which the iron is sort of leached away by chemical attack, leaving a graphite shell. 

I suppose with a hundred year life for these iron mains, it was all too easy for utility companies to forget about long-term maintenance. So increasing their dividends and lowering our bills: everybody happy for quite a while. Then, given that all the mains went in over just a few years, is it better to include their eventual replacement in the regular price, or to levy a surcharge when it finally comes around?

Interestingly, no chalk to be seen in the hole. Perhaps Clay Hill was so-named for a good reason.

By the time I got into town, the terraces of both the Marquis and Wetherspoon's were busy with mainly young people. It was also starting to get a bit humid, so not so comfortable any more. So back via Court Recreation Ground, rather than the full Screwfix.

TB moderately busy outside. A point there being that a chunk of the fairly new front garden has been returned to parking. Not clear whether this additional parking is for the residents of or for the visitors to the house.

PS: lines to Victoria already buckling in the heat? 

All down, as I recall, to welding the joints rather than fishplating them, in the old way. Gemini confirms the fishplates, but goes on to explain that they were not as good for thermal expansion as you might think, were a pain in other ways and that now, all kinds of complicated alternatives have been dreamed up by the railway engineers. But it is time for breakfast, so no time to take that lot on board.

I close by adding that Gemini is getting better at small talk.

PS 1: is there a parallel here between the utility companies exploiting their Victorian heritage and Google & his friends hoovering up all the good quality knowledge that has been fed into the Internet over the last twenty years?

PS 2: a titbit from the FT. Has Farage ever been to a football match? I imagine that Starmer has. The stuff you have to do these days to bring home the bacon. Salted, not stirred, naturally.

For the avoidance of doubt, I have probably been to less than five football matches in the course of my life, starting with West Bromwich Albion away, on near empty terraces, and I doubt whether there will be any more. I also doubt whether I have ever watched the whole of a football match on a screen, home or away.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/05/kozhukhin.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/05/wisteria.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-first-circuit.html.

Reference 4: https://picacorp.com/what-is-graphitic-corrosion-and-how-to-prevent-water-main-breaks/.

Reference 5: https://www.wba.co.uk/.

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