Outside the gelateria on Sun Street is a rather incongruous giant model of a '99' - a concoction of soft-serve ice cream with a chocolate flake, on a cornet wafer. These were made famous in UK by Mr Whippy ice cream vans, starting in Birmingham, in 1958.

Conversely, the dark chocolate gelato sold in this shop is possibly the best I have tasted outside Italy.

Sir Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, 1st Baronet, (9 May 1801 – 12 April 1866) was an English landowner, developer and Member of Parliament who founded the town of Fleetwood, in Lancashire, England.

Before its foundation, Fleetwood was described as a massive rabbit warren on huge snd dunes

This bust was made in Rome by Henry Behnes Burlowe.

This mark was on the same wall at St John's church, but about 1.5 m above ground level.

The website, Trigpointing UK has pictures of many, many trigpoints, and this one appears to be unique, with that deeply-cut triangle going through the traditional benchmark.

So, while I will include this in my Banchmarks album, I believe this is a "3rd Order Trig Point" to use the terminology that's used to describe them.

Now, imagine some dude from Ordnance Survey rocking up to your house today and chiselling a mark on the wall ... that could lead to a fun exchange of words!

On Castle Hill stands this charming house. I love the original sash window frames. Sadly, I could not capture the 'wobbly' nature of the panes of glass. Glass remains 'fluid' and old glass thickens at the bottom. These windows show a lot of distortion, making me think they are the originals.

A tall evening primrose takes in the view. So many people never see a big sky, which is sad.

A great collection of heritage species of fruit trees. Run by volunteers. Free to taste.

Karl Lagerfeld said, "Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants."

The fashion at the moment seems to be for electric bikes that have been modded to go up to 60 mph (100 kmh) and to ride them on the pavement and pedestrian areas.

Riders are usually equipped with balaclavas or face masks, as shown here. I guess the wind chill is too awful to bear at those speeds.

I have nothing against e-bikes, per se. Just stay off the pavement/sidewalk, please.

On the way to fisherman's square stands this interesting house. I don't know its history but will find out.

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Mirror Lab Pro on a Galaxy Note9. Cloud photo opened to preset filter number 2 called Mirror Lake.

Today's mandatory food shot. Pizza Toscana with Tuscan sausage and birdseye chilies.

Totally different from last year's goulash at home. Good food, company, and fun.

I think lava lamps have competition for generating pseudo random numbers.

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📷 Pixel 6 Pro - Sorbet Yellow Pansy

The first of my bulbs appear.

I bought a bag of bulbs in the market a while ago and potted them up for spring. This one seems keen to arrive early.

I have no clue what they will be.

I have been playing Skyrim recently. Walking about is aggravating an injury and I've been told to stay off my feet. It's enormously frustrating.

Skyrim is about fighting dragons, bandits, mages and any creature that moves, it seems. You have to develop skills, and one is cooking. There are many options from which to choose. Apple cabbage stew restores health, apparently, so I am making some IRL as they say. Or for real, as I might.

Red beetroots

Carrots

Red onions

Celery (not red!)

Garlic

Secret herbs n spices

Stock

Slow cook overnight on low

Today's cooking for 40

What's on special offer today?

Red capsicum

Red onion

Spinach

Garlic

Stir fry veg mix

to which I added

Canned tomatoes

Passata

Veg stock

Cannelini beans

Red kidney beans

Yoghurt, Greek

Farfalle pasta

Balsamic vinegar

cook and simmer for 90 minutes

80 pence per serving.

only one return..."too many bits".

can't please everyone 👍

There's an interesting art trail in Morecambe that will take a few hours to walk around. In this car park are several metal birds which brighten up some very dull tarmac.

Trail details here:

environmentalsculptures.wordpress.com/morecambe-tern-proj...

Now the red (vermillion) ingredients; sweet potatoes, carrots, beetroot, red lentils. To which added jars of tagine sauce, containing dried apricots and sweet paprika.

Covered for 10 minutes before adding stock.

Horseradish mayonnaise and cornichons. Cayenne for color.

Another benchmark. This on the side of St John's Church, Lancaster.

Part of the survey and census of 1840.

I may get this as a tattoo sometime.

Seen on High Street, Lancaster.

Poorer families, if they could even afford to buy coal, would often have to take it from the front door through the house and put it in a heap or bunker in the back yard.

Middle class households had coal delivered directly to the cellar, via a coal hole in the pavement, like this one.

Coal cellars were often damp, leading to coal becoming damp and difficult to light and keep going. Thus, we see here a ventilated cover to help moisture to be vented to the outside.

Alium

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For some reason that I do not understand, UK is the biggest market for drophead or open top cars. Here they are, crewed by people who look better equipped to take on the South Pole than a gentle drive in the country. As they say up here, there's nowt so strange as folk.

It's been a bit of a day, to be frank. But I forced myself to go out, and i found this string of mains-powered lights for a quid. So here they are, strung out temporarily to see if they work.

Ceiling rose. It greets you when you wake here. Or just look up to be amazed.

This hangs in one of the kitchens where I work. Words to live by,

Not sevruga but lumpfish roe on some buckwheat blinis with crème fraiche.

A cheap but no less delightful snack for the Christmas season.

The spoon is made from horn. Metal tends to add a taste to the delicate fish eggs.