pumpkinstrokemarrow

Overtaken by a red Ferrari on the way back from the baker today. Ferraris always seem to be red so there must be something in the theory about the aggressiveness of the drivers of red cars. That aside, the thing made a rather unpleasant rasping, coughy sort of noise. Accompanied by twin puffs of smoke, one from each exhaust, whenver the driver put his (or possibly her) foot on something. So, an unimpressive performance. I thought the whole idea of posh cars was that they purred, giving the impression of unlimited power lurking underneath. Not coughed. I recall that Ian Fleming - who went to a lot of bother about the details of these things - went in for full throated roaring. Which sounds well enough, but on reflection, is not enough like purring. Purring might be a bit wet but roaring sounds like the car is struggling which is not the idea at all.

Later on stuck behind one of those cherry picker things mounted on a van, being used to do something to the street lights. Which caused splendid tail backs in and around Hook Road. While I was waiting, I get to wonder how the thing worked. It had four joints and four rams and a basket in which the operator was to be found - which last was not hanging free in the manner, say, of a compass in gimbals. Plus a swivel for direction. So activating any one ram by itself would put the basket out of horizontal, which I am sure would contravene something in Health and Safety Regulations (cherry picking for Poles) Annex 5iv (March 2007 revision) - assuming, that is, that the operator in question was able to take the tome in question out of the library for perusal at home, over a couple of tinnies and a fag (still permitted at home). So, to continue, to keep the basket horizontal when moving the thing about would require some subtlety. Now does the operator operate the four rams directly, one lever for each, plus a wheel for the swivel, or is there some computing going on which converts some more natural controls - perhaps a joystick for direction and a lever for height - into ram controls? Or is the ram next to the basket driven autonomously by some gadget, connected to a level somehow and which is then able to maintain the level irrespective of what the operator gets up to with the other controls?

I also wonder about the eventual fate of a pair of houses on the other side of Epsom, on the way to the Downs. A semi-detached pair, around 100 years or so old. Great big red brick things, maybe twice the size of your average three bedroom suburban villa. Now one was in good condition and with a large Wellingtonian (or some such large sequoia tree, as large as the specimen we saw the other day in Kew) in the front garden. Rather dominant there. The other one was very run down, was to let and there were four or five cars in the unkempt front garden. Is the owner of the second letting it run down to the point where the council and his neighbour give in and let him knock them both down for flats? What about tree preservation? In our road you are apt to get the busies (if that is how lovers of Taggart spell the word) round if you chop down a large apple tree, never mind a large endangered species. Will preservation of the species allowed to stand in the way of houses (or at least flats) fit for heroes?

Yesterday's bread was a little overcooked, if entirely palatable. But good bread today. Cooked just right with a firm crust and fluffy, slightly damp, interior. A reminder that on a good day our bread is every bit as good as the stuff from over the water (Eastwards, not Westwards. I am told that North American bread is generally terrible) - although it also seems to be true that the quality of white bread declines with the distance from London. Peripherals don't seem to be able to manage it at all. Often able to get good white rolls, but generally bad loaves. But they can manage granary, along with supermarket bakeries - so I guess granary must be more forgiving.