Second fruits

Heading west over the bridge at West Ewell yesterday I passed a young mum with a couple of children, one of whom was busy picking blackberries, of which there looked to be lots.

Then this morning, going the same way again, I was reminded of them and went on to check how things were down Longmead Road, where there also seemed to be plenty of clumps of fruit, if not as well stocked as the first.

All things considered, quite enough to make a trip out late this afternoon worth the bother. Which it certainly was, as I picked just about two kilos in just about an hour, all from this one spot on the eastern approach to the bridge.

A few comments from passers by and two young men, probably on their way home from work and looking foreign to me, joined in for a few minutes, in what struck me as a slightly furtive way. I kept an eye on my bike, which was not locked. Older person's paranoia?

But at least, despite the humidity and the threatening sky, I did not get wet. And we have not had more than a very light drizzle for a few minutes all evening. Not so far, anyway.

PS: off snap to the right are some small blocks of flats, not many feet at all from the blackberries. I think when we first came to Epsom, this station yard was a sort of garden centre, specialising in big pots. And before that I dare say it was a builders' yard, one of the proper builders who were scattered over the suburban land in the olden days. A proper builder who had an office you could visit, who would give you a written estimate and who would use his own, time-served tradesmen to do the work. And not a van anywhere to be seen. Older person's nostalgia for a non-existent past?

Reference 1: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/08/first-fruits.html.