Market day

A mid-morning turn around town, so it must have been before the most recent serious heat kicked in. Starting with this fine growth of mint invading the pavement at the top of Manor Green Road. The bright green stuff with pointed leaves, rather than the duller green stuff with rounded, hairy leaves which I used to prefer when I used to grow the stuff. Probably for no better reason than that was the sort grown when I was young. All the same, this stuff smelt minty enough rubbed between the fingers.

One of the flatters - the flats being off-snap to the left - has had a tidy moment since and cleared most of it away.

The Sunday farmers' market was underway by the time that I got there. Maybe just the one stall that was vaguely agricultural - the one which sells curious shrink-wrapped meats - but there was plenty of street food, including this splendid salad bar.

For which Bing turns up both reference 3 and the rather different reference 4. With a display like that he should do well.

Onto to East Streeet, where the creeper by the hollyhock was in full flower, last noticed at reference 1, Where Google Images got into a bit of a muddle, offering all kinds of obscure plants. Today, with the flowers properly out, he goes for Old Man's Beard (Clematis vitalba), much more plausible, at least in the sense that BH is spotting it all the time in hedgerows.

I do a zoom on the flowers and Wikipedia offers a couple of images at reference 2 which agree well enough with both flowers and leaves. Maybe Google Images has got it right this time, with flowers to go on. One creeper too much like another otherwise.

And he is clearly of a tidy mind and would not have a problem with my getting rid of this one. He is starting to acquire a personality!

The space also being decorated with this advertisement. I think the place in question is the shed behind the Methodist Church which does service as Epsom's principal night club.

Both Bing and Wikipedia know about 'Sweet Female Attitude'. But then, they have been around for a while now, with Copilot talking of a hit in 2000. A bit long in the tooth for hitting the club scene?

Just caught this flashy motor out for a spin. Both Google Images and Carcheck say Ultima RS, with the latter adding 2020. Wikipedia knows about them at reference 5, talking of kit versions, which might explain why the Carcheck response was a bit thin. There is also reference 6. Never heard of before.

Large ivy down the passage at the side of Sainsbury's all present and correct. Maybe time to give Gemini another go on why these large leaves crop up from time to time.

A striking flower head in the passage between the gas depot and Travis Perkins (Epsom Coaches, as was). Google Images says common hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium), a common member of the carrot family. The entry at Wikipedia is a bit thin, but the image agrees well enough with that at reference 7.

The last of the First Lines? I think it has gone now.

A good example of three leaf clusters on a fruiting stem of a bramble. As opposed to the five leaf clusters of the other sort.

Another tidy gardener. Maybe we are not going to get any pyramid orchids this year.

And last but not least, a flashy orange flower which I have been admiring for some time. Once again, the telephone defeated by the colour contrast. Or perhaps the brightness contrast.

Google Images says California poppies (Eschscholzia californica), which agrees with reference 8. I don't doubt his identification, but I need to check the leaves.

Timed out. But a productive circuit, all the same. A good day for Google Images.

References

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

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clematis_vitalba.

Reference 3: https://meltropical.co.uk/.

Reference 4: https://crewemarkets.co.uk/traders/wattalotta-sweetz/.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_RS.

Reference 6: https://www.ultimasports.co.uk/Models/UltimaRS.

Reference 7: https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/8656/heracleum-sphondylium/details.

Reference 8: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eschscholzia_californica.

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