To the races

Up to Epsom Downs on Monday morning, after the biggish race on Saturday. As I understand it, no spectators (apart from owners and such like) and prize money down to £50,000 from £250,000.

The home straight

Plenty of hoof marks in the turf to be seen from the crossing near Tattenham Corner. Grass on the Downs proper looking good, so perhaps the recent rain has done some good, softening the ground a bit and pushing the grass up.

Plaque for Emily Davison

Slightly tacky memorial plaque for the suffragette, Emily Davison, tacked to the appropriate point of the railings, part of the memorialitis epidemic which has been running for some years now - to the point of running in reverse in some quarters. Davison may have been brave and she was fighting for a good cause, but to my mind to run in front of racing horses you must either know nothing about horses or be suffering from some mental disorder. A small point in favour of the former point being the return train ticket. While I would amplify the latter point by saying that normal, well balanced people do not usually go out to get themselves killed for good causes. A point that has puzzled me with regard to Saint Margaret of Clitheroe (pressed to death for her faith, see reference 1) and Saint Perpetua of Carthage (eaten to death for her faith, see references 2 and 3).

Corporation bollard

I had thought that this bollard was one of those planted by the Corporation of London to mark their stewardship of the site in question. But as it turns out, while they do look after Ashtead Common, they do not appear to look after Epsom Downs. But Bing turns up reference 4, from where I get to references 5 and 6, from which I learn that this is a coal tax post - the purpose being to stop those who might be evading coal tax pleading ignorance. I wonder what the history of this particular one is, appearing just to have been propped up at the side of the course.

Groundsmen's debris

We then looped round on the (closed) road leading from the northern car park by the tea hut (open by the time we left) to the southern car park, known to gmaps as the seven furlong car park. Fine views to the north west, and we could probably have seen Heathrow Airport had there been any planes heading down to it, which there were not, the whole time that we were there.

A non-scoring trolley among the debris in the southern car park, with the look of Wilko about it. The trolleys that the bigger supermarkets like Sainsbury's use are rather more substantial.

Bit of a breeze out on the Downs proper, but plenty warm enough for a short lie-down on the grass, out of said breeze. Heard the odd sky lark but did not see one. And did not see any tweetable birds on this occasion.

The unanimous view was that the time was not then right to take tea at the hut. Maybe next week?

Reference 1: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2011/07/faith.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-martyrdom-of-ss-perpetua-felicitas.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2014/01/perpetually-perpetua.html.

Reference 4: https://iainpetrie.typepad.com/the_four_ages_of_sand/2011/06/what-is-act-24-25-vict-cap-42.html.

Reference 5: https://fouragesofsand.blogspot.com/.

Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal-tax_post.