Trolley 426

Trolley 426 had been spotted on the bank of the stream running down Longmead Road on Saturday or the day before and was captured on Sunday. An outing for the grappling iron; not entirely necessary, but the bank was probably slippery and I had no desire to get either wet or dirty.

A trolley made of a mixture of round section and square section, with the general idea being to cut a wedge out of the end of a square section when butting it onto a round section. Not particularly neat looking, but it does substantially increase the contact of the weld. Perhaps the use of a wedge to butt square onto square above the wheel was a mistake. By the robot or by the apprentice?

All packed up and ready to deliver the trolley. But where to? It was a Homebase trolley, but did Homebase still exist after the Australians withdrew from the fray? It was a bit battered, far from new, possibly dating from the days when Homebase was part of Sainsbury's: would they want it back anyway? Plus, the Homebase store was further than I fancied pushing a trolley - this despite the fact that it was only just over three years ago that I carried a couple of galvanised steel grids home from the place (as noticed at reference 4). What about the tip around the corner? Would they let me in despite the facts that I was not a car (no pedestrian access) and I had not made an appointment. In the event, I settled for taking it home pending further thought. I can always put it in the back of the car and take it away again.

PS: just before I reached the trolley, I came across a pile of grass clippings on the edge of the bank. Possibly just a common or garden fly tipper, possibly the council grass cutters. I dare say the the clippings will rot down fast enough, but it sets a poor example to the rest of us and may leave some patches of bank a bit bare for a while.

Reference 1: http://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/08/trolley-425.html.

Reference 2: https://www.homebase.co.uk/. Homebase clearly alive and well, and the 'about' section includes a short history, ending up by telling us that the company is back in profit after a CVA - bankruptcy lite - and it now part of the Hilco family.

Reference 3: https://www.hilcocapital.com/. A private company from Illinois which appears to specialise in mending broken companies, either by purchase, investment or advisory service. High end asset strippers?

Reference 4: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/02/new-wheeze.html.