Circuit one

It was still hot when we got back from the other island, so an early start for my circular inspection of Epsom. What had been going on in the couple of weeks we had been away?

Blackberries coming on well outside Epsom Autos, and I probably had a few, just for form.

While those at the bottom of Station Approach had been cut down, rather crudely. I suppose someone had moaned to the council about brambles straying into the now narrow walkway and they had sent someone in with a serious hedge trimmer to do something about it.

A lapse of security at the unit which had, until recently, been home to Rymans. The place had been stripped out and I don't suppose that there was anything left to lift. Just various flyers and posters. No-one camping out that I could see either.

For once the archive fails me. I thought I had already noticed the move of Rymans from a small unit on the northern side of the High Street to a corner of a similar unit on the other side of the road, otherwise home to Robert Dyas. Two stores which I make occasional use of and which I would be sorry to lose altogether - but which presumably struggle against the supermarkets, Amazon and, in the case of Rymans, the demise of writing on paper. Maybe I will track something down later.

We are promised massive works in and around the junctions of the High Street, Hook Road and East Street, minor works to do with traffic lights, major works to do with gas. Works which are slated to go on for months. I don't suppose I will be much bothered, being on foot, but a pain for people who drive in that end of Epsom.

On this day, just a few barriers being installed as a warm-up act.

Nothing much going on at Yellow Box. For which saga see reference 3.

Noticed but did not capture a 2011 trolley from M&S, old for M&S and rather tired, which would have meant going back into town and, inter alia, missing out on the mullein, last noticed at reference 4.

Present and intact, but it looks as if the active phase of flowering is near over. Now into ripening any seeds that there may now be.

The Rose of Sharon of Middle Lane was blooming again. Noticed, for example, at reference 5, almost a year ago. So perhaps a couple of weeks earlier this year. While last year it sparked an expedition to Wisley to peer at all the hibiscuses there...

A detail. Six petals again, rather than the five which is proper.

Blackberries at the start of the passage to the underpass, at the bottom of Stones Road. The inhabitants of which road show a marked inclination to buy KIA, the people with a showroom just past the Ford Centre, just the other side of the underpass.

The Screwfix whitebeam. Snapped ust about 40 minutes after I passed Epsom Autos on West Hill: I think I was rather slower today, but then we were in town yesterday. Hungover, so as to speak.

Blackberries nearly covering the door to the double garage, visible to the left of the whitebeam in the previous snap.

Screwfix and others underneath the conspicuous white roof. Garage below and to the left of the central orange spot, whitebeam to the right. Odd bit of land above, upper left. To whom does it belong?

A few minutes with reference 6 suggests that it will cost at least £50 and a few days to find out who the owner is. Not as open access as local authority planning systems are these days. And I am not sure it is worth it to me. Maybe tomorrow. 

And then there would be the question of access and right of way. Which might turn out to be a pay-day for both the owners of the neighbouring land and their solicitors.

While the garage is not really positioned for use for your car on a daily basis, but I suppose an occasional van bringing stuff in or taking stuff out would be OK. Not that I have ever seen activity of either sort. Perhaps the owner put the door in before thinking it through.

Next up was the weeping willow over the stream at the top of Longmead Road, spring memory of which had given me pause when I came to the bush noticed at reference 7, a couple of weeks or so ago.

A detail of a stem, with a couple of feet of walking stick below. The leaves are much more spaced out than I remember from the spring, when they were sprouting. Except that my understanding is that the stems of plants grow from the tip. So gap between buds is fixed, once those buds are laid down.

At least the stem above does look very like those at reference 7, spiral arrangement of leaflets and all. Furthermore, under zoom, the saw toothing of the margins is clearly visible, at least on some of the leaflets.

I no longer have the original of the snaps at reference 8, and even if I did, zoom might not have been conclusive, so I will have to try to remember to take a more careful look next spring.

From Pound Lane, BH nearly got a new tray, being something of a connaisseur of same. But I found that the holes which served as handles had what felt like rather sharp edges, so I desisted.

Evidence that Sandie's Flowers really has gone, as previously noticed.

The extensive gas works in Manor Green Road will have to wait for a second take.

PS 1: A few weeks ago I noticed some mint on Manor Green Road, since cut back. I noticed this morning (Sunday) that it is making a come back: difficult stuff to get rid of! See reference 1.

PS 2: I am reminded by the piece at reference 10 that all our obsession with recreational drugs has achieved is to inflate the pay packets of lots of people on both sides of the justice fence - and to create lots of young criminals. You would think that we would have learned from Prohibition and Al Capone. From which I associate to the rather cosy sketches of smuggling life on fishing boats, which were supposed to be working the Newfoundland Banks, that you get from time to time in Simenon. 

References

Reference 1: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/07/market-day.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/04/trios.html. 

Reference 3: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/06/a-circuit.html.

Reference 4: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/07/decurrent.html.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/08/trolleys-930-and-931.html.

Reference 6: https://onlinelandregistry.org.uk/apply/map-search.

Reference 7: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-willow-or-not.html.

Reference 8: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/03/butterbur.html.

Reference 9: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/06/another-hot-morning.html.

Reference 10: Europe can’t stop the tide of cocaine: The drug is more available now than in its 1980s heyday as street prices tumble and purity improves - Jude Webber in Haulbowline, Laura Dubois, Financial Times - 2026.

Group search key: thapsus, 20260719.