Preston Parched Peas

 Journey to the heart of Lancashire and you will discover the local delicacy of parched peas and at this stall in Preston combine them with baked potatoes. They are also traditionally eaten on bonfire night in November out of a cup with salt and malt vinegar.  So what are parched peas?  They are black peas soaked overnight and then simmered, hence the name parched which is an old term for a long slow boiling. (Recipe here) The man on the right doesn't want to waste any time in eating his. As I live in what is historically known as Lancashire North of the Sands, they are not sold here, only the traditional accompaniment to fish and chips, mushy peas, which are cooked in a similar way only with dried marrowfat peas and bicarbonate of soda.

The Roberts family have been selling their popular baked potatoes and parched peas in Preston since 1955 but the van was showing its age so they decided on a new build, not the usual generic food van but a replica of a Preston Guild tram.  This was built in time for the Preston Guild celebration in 2012 (the next Guild will be in 2032) and the      

birth dates of Keith Jr's children were used as the tram number.  Here the tram is seen operating from the Market Square, in the background is the newly renovated (and now gleaming white) Cenotaph for those who died in the Great War.  Designed by Sir Gilbert Scott (1880-1960),  famous as the architect for Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, Battersea Power Station and the red   

Phone Box.  This row of phone boxes is just around the corner from the square.  Replaced by a more utilitarian design in the 1980s by British Telecom around 2000 of these red boxes were given listed status and remain, some were adopted locally and turned to another use such as libraries, art galleries and even a defibrillator station and some were sold so it is not unusual to spot one in a garden. The use of the telephone box is of course in rapid decline with the use of mobiles and I don't think many of them would remain except for the fact that BT has a "Universal Services Obligation" to retain them.  In the middle of nowhere with no mobile phone signal and an emergency a red box would be a welcome sight.  

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at P here