A few Ulverston shops we visited today

We visit Ulverston about twice a year and have done for the last 30 years to visit my wife's parents and other family.

The China shop had a 75% off sale today as the owner is retiring at the end of 2014. Somebody said "It is a shame to loose shops like this."

Ulverston is not immune to closed shops: the old Stead and Simpson shoe shop has been vacant for years, and currently has a nativity scene in the window.  But Ulverston still has a large number of interesting independent shops.

Ulverston still has a fruit and veg shop.

and a butcher with cooked meat and pies one side and fresh meat the other. There is also a permanent butcher and fruit and veg stall in the Market Hall.

The best fish and chips in town come from the Chippy Bank.

The equivalent of the Pound Shop is full of mostly useful things. We were asked to get toilet paper, and Yorkshire Tea from there, and I got some gloves - having lost mine.

Walney Island Sunset

This afternoon we visited Walney Island - a long island separated by a channel from Barrow in Furness.

The sun was going down as we stopped next to the Round House, on Biggar Bank. Distant windmills looked like tropical palm trees in the sunset light. 

There were still many dog walkers about.

Small waves lapped the pebbled shore, as the sea and sky grew dark. The air was cold, and frost  formed on the windscreen when we got back to the car.

Trip to Oxford - a lot of birds and books

I was struck by the deer carcass at the covered market - its head stuck in a plastic bag to catch any blood and hide the stump. There were many more turkeys strung up with their heads similarly covered.

I read some beautiful words of Praise to God from a book of Celtic prayers in the Norrington Room in Blackwells bookshop. I moved from theology to the self help books, and then to Psychology.
 
Outside the University Church on High Street there were more birds strung up - without explanation.