The weather of late has been a bit grim to say the least but thankfully not as grim as it has been up North.

Years of misunderstanding of upland management and rivers management coupled with reactionary government have conspired with, it has to be said, global warming to exacerbate non-seasonal deluges of precipitation that ought to have been white flaky stuff that with a slow melt would have controlled the release from denuded uplands to the built-on flood plains.

December has been rather wet and warm here in the East with very little in the way of predictable steady weather patterns  associated with stuck highs delivering cold drying conditions.

I just had to get out with a camera of any sort today. With the delivery of a sun drenched morning we headed off to Felixstowe to take in the promenade. One can get in a good 5 miles from Landguard to the Fludyers and back and on the level unless one climbs up to the town as we did today. We took coffee and cookies at a beach hut at the Landguard end where a delightful lady was serving teas and coffees in aid of Cancer Research. Sitting in that hut out of the stiff wind gave us an  an interesting viewpoint. We could see neither to port nor starboard, just straight ahead, almost due South at foaming breakers and a gloriously blue sky.  We paid our dues and off we went dodging dogs in their tens of all kinds having a heyday in the off-season that allows dogs on the beach and then back again via the town to a promenade looking like Oxford Street during the sales. Absolutely choked with bipeds and quadrapeds but with high tide and a stiffening Southerly a somewhat hazy walk back and then I came upon these.

Now Felixstowe is slightly East of Greenwich and we used to have a promenade full of a local manufacturer’s kiosks only one of which remains so it struck me as odd that ice cream that must take at least  a 12 hour journey from Cornwall is now being peddled (if said kiosks had been open but it was a Bank Holiday after all) just off the promenade.

Now this is all that is left of one of the original Ipswich based ice cream manufacturers.