The Oaks

In the olden days, we used to go up on the hill on Derby Day, sometimes on Oaks Day too, every year. A serious business involving several visits followed by a long walk up the hill, through the tunnel to the hill proper. Towards the end of the run, I used to make up a good supply of chopped egg sandwiches on white, sourced from a long gone baker in Cheam. Much more satisfactory than the junk food - aka street food - available on the spot.

A visit to the archives suggests that these outings came to an end in 2011 (reference 1) and that things have rather dropped off, if not fallen away, since then. A couple of earlier notices are offered at reference 2 and 3 and diligent readers can no doubt find more.

On this occasion, the weather looked to be fair for the Oaks - Ladies' Day - and bad for the Derby, so we settled for the Oaks - although I did manage a visit to Wetherspoon's the day following, as noticed at reference 4.

A cool and overcast start to the day, so light raincoat and folding umbrella. As it turned out, it did not rain on us, but I was glad enough to have a coat on.

Wetherspoon's was busy, with lots of young people in fancy dress. Three piece suits for the men, dressing lite and fancy for the women. Quite a lot of hair gel and combing in evidence - something that I have never gone in for, despite its being the fashion from time to time.

They had cracked out the plastic glasses for the occasion, cunningly designed so that they pack very tight. A cubic metre of cardboard box would no doubt hold a very large number of them. Thousands? We assumed that they were washed and reused, possibly repacked for the next occasion. Maybe the efficient looking manageress whom we see there from time to time would tell us if we caught her on a quiet moment. 

The day following would not have been good - she looked pretty tired by mid-morning. Up and running, but tired.

Outside the side door of Wetherspoon's, almost in the Ashley Centre. Not exactly a fake, but not a regular ivy either. Presumably bought as a unit for a bit of wall cover. I wonder how much water it needs, not being in a very big pot.

From to Waterloo Road to pick up a bus, with Edwards having got the job this year. A company I know well, having passed both their premises and their buses many times - but it was not until I look up their website today - reference 7 - that I am reminded that it is not Edwards at all, rather Edward Thomas (and son). A company which is a couple of years older than I am.

On this day, following my conversation with Gemini about paint jobs on trucks noticed at reference 8, I wondered about the smart paint job on the double decker. Then had Thomas - more a coach than a double decker operator - bought it from new or at auction?

Out at the top, to give the Derby Arms a go, busy with a crowd very similar to that in Wetherspoon's down below. Plus the odd topper. One of the doormen had come down from Derby; his usual fare was minding football matches, in particular Nottingham Forest.

I stopped BH from buying a copy of the Racing Post and got her to wait until we found someone selling proper race cards of the traditional variety: little white booklets, decently made, about the size of a small paperback. A fiver or so.

Onto the old grandstand, now the Duchess Stand, augmented for enclosure purposes with all kinds of extras. Lots of drink booths, some food booths and the parade ring.The tunnel to the hill proper, the DSS enclosure to regulars, was still present - 'F' in the snap above, top left - had not vanished, but I think it had been closed for the duration.

We took a couple of slices of pizza from a van next to the parade ring and they were rather good; just what we wanted at that time and place. I remember the word 'bocca', a smart black caravan and an electric oven mounted to the right of the counter. There was not much choice. I failed to find these people in the old way, using Google and Bing, so today I thought I would try Gemini.

On this occasion, he did seem to be spoofing it, giving me suggestions which elementary checking showed to be wrong. Plus lots of foodie stuff about different kinds of pizzas. Maybe we would have got there in the end, had I persisted. Alternatively, maybe I have not got enough to go on. There is no answer to the question out on the web - in which case it would have been better for Gemini to have said so, rather than going with whatever had floated to the top of his search results - and building a nice story about that whatever.

But I have learned first that 'bocca' is Italian for mouth and is a word widely used for pizza branding. Second that there are plenty of mobile pizza outfits out there. Some suited to this type of event, some not.

Part of the entertainment was a posse of young ladies in fancy dress who spent some of their time on stilts. Looking quiet in the snap above as most of the punters had moved into the stand for the first race. We were still engaged with our pizza.

But as it happens now (Friday morning), that the pizza van is to be seen in the background and I had got the name slightly wrong 'Bucci Pizza' not 'Bocca'. Dark green rather than black, and probably caravan rather than van.

Back to Gemini and from there to reference 9 which I am fairly confident is the right answer. Rubbish in, rubbish out as we programmers used to say back in the 1970s.

He goes on to tell me all about the 'Luganega' style spiral sausages we are due to have for lunch, on which more in due course.

From the parade ring to near the top of the open part of the grandstand - corporate and private boxes above - to take in the scene, including the near empty hill on the other side of the tracks.

The next race was a photo-finish and we experienced the full roar of the crowd. Not something I have heard for some years.

There was also a prodigious row in the main hall, underneath the grandstand proper.

Access denied to the tunnel of old.

On the other hand, management had a firm grip on the litter, with lots of people walking around with bags and litter pickers. They were also supplying neat, clear plastic carrier bags for bottles and glasses.

Over a footbridge to take in a big tent, intended for the use of young people in the evening to follow. Impressive tent pegs, guy ropes and so forth. It must have been fun putting the thing up - providing, that is, that there was not any wind.

And then we were about done. We were not going to hold out until the Derby, more than an hour later, and made our way back to the bus stop.

And we did catch a decent looking roller on the way out, the first of the day. Known to Carcheck as a 2019 Rolls Royce, Phantom V12, 8 speed automatic capable of 150mph or so. Whereas in the olden days there would have been a procession of flash cars heading up to Downs late morning - to the extent that local children put up little stands by the side of the road, selling pop and such.

A day more given over to the young out on the beano. Just the odd fat cigar. Not much to be seen of the rather shabby racing crowd at all. Not that we managed to place any bets: perhaps a mistake: if you have a flutter, you get a flutter.

We decided to walk home from Epsom, catching this yellow flush on Clay Hill Green on the way.

This morning, on a zoomed detail, Google Images says 'Common bird's-foot-trefoil (Lotus corniculatus)'. His story is corroborated by both Copilot and Wikipedia, this last at reference 10.

Plus, when I zoom in even further, I get good agreement with the image in Wikipedia, creeping stems apart, not visible in the grass in my snap.

A good day for the weathermen, who had got it spot on. Plenty of threatening skies, but no actual rain.

PS 1: the purchase of the raincoat mentioned above was noticed at reference 5 below. And again at reference 6. I am pleased to report that the search indexes to the blog archive seem to have been put back together again (by Windows, in the background). On the other hand, the find from RPPL noticed at reference 6 has not survived the culls of the intervening decade. Still, not a bad age for a coat. And still got the stockman's coat mentioned at reference 2, although I can't remember when I last wore it. Don't tend to be out in heavy rain these days.

References

Reference 1: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2011/06/21st-birthday.html.

Reference 2: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2009/06/derby-pickings.html. A branch of the restaurant mentioned here has now opened in Epsom. It does excellent bread too.

Reference 3: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2012/06/fags.html.

Reference 4: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/06/fake-200.html. I forgot to mention a young man in what looked like a real kilt, that is to say he was wearing his kilt.

Reference 5: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2016/01/mainly-schubert-1.html.

Reference 6: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2016/01/mainly-schubert-2.html.

Reference 7: https://edwardthomasandson.co.uk/.

Reference 8: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/05/gas.html.

Reference 9: https://buccipizza.com/.

Reference 10: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_corniculatus.

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