Italian ice-cream... the great British passion... When I was growing up in Northampton it was Gallone's, who ran a fleet of ice-cream vans to whcih we childrne were drawn like moths to part with our pocket money in exchange for a 3p cone or a 5p 99 or, for those who were rich or rash, a tub, on oyster or a double-nugget wafer...  I was the 3p cone kind!

Fast forward four decades and a new ice-cream parlour has opened up round the corner from the Gathering Place.  I went with a friend a week or two back and we could not get in, it was packed out.  I had a hunch that this morning it'd be quiet - it was.  So I bought the biggest, most expensive ice-cream I've ever bought (one of the cheaper ones they sell!) at £6.75...

I had to smile to myself, as when I ordered it the girl behind the counter had to get the menu to find out what was in it and what it was meant to look like!

It was VERY yummy but at that price not a treat I'll be repeating in a hurry!