Pepe

It isn't often that you can go in to a hardware shop and meet a real parrot on an assistant's shoulder. But you can at Ralph Yates in Malton around lunch time.

Yates is one of my favourite shops anywhere. It is a rambling place that has sections for garden items, hardware, country clothes, boots and shoes and more. Everyone is very helpful and the goods are not overpriced probably because they sell to farmers.

It was established in 1845, by the way.

The parrot is called Pepe.