Redcar...

Wound up in Redcar today: about as far north as I'll be going, 'cos I'm seeing friends in Scarborough tomorrow. I was lucky with the light on Redcar beach, and with this horse and trap racing through the shallows...

I bought a whippy cornet from a lady in an ice cream van on the promenade. She seemed very cheerful. “It’s the beautiful view”, she said, gazing out to see. “But I don’t like the wind turbines”. The turbines looked fantastic, I thought; the odd light made them seem very close. “Would you like raspberry sauce?”, she asked. Of course.

It reminded me of my days in a Mr Whippy van, doing the rounds in Leeds. The Guiseppe brothers, Mario and Johnny, used to give every driver a waxed paper cup (they kind they served sundaes in) filled with Martini before we toook our van out. Maybe it was to wake us up and get us going. My patch was a big estate in Seacroft, and, to make any money, I had to get round before any of my competitors.

The kids used to call me Chucky Man (not sure why). The cry would go up - “Chucky Man’s ‘ere” - and the kids would gather round. I gave them free ice cream on their birthday, though birthdays seemed to come round remarkably quickly. I’d answer their questions. “Eh, Chucky Man”, they’d say, “why are you always eating ice cream?” Because it was so damn good, that’s why, especially after a joint. “Chucky Man, how much is a fourpenny cornet?” “Can I have some broken wafers for ’t baby?”…