My friend Kate

Meet Kate.  She's my friend.

Kate works at the self-service tills in Morrisons where she spends a lot of her time doing that swipey thing to confirm I'm old enough to buy alcohol,

Kate is from Scotland and is also a committed fan of King William III, aka the Prince of Orange.

King Billy, as he's affectionately known by his followers, duffed up King James to win the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.  This is proudly celebrated by a significant proportion of the Protestant people of Northern Ireland on 12 July each year at Orange Order parades.  If you live outside the fair Province, you'll probably have seen them on the telly.

Indeed, you may also have encountered them in other parts of the world.  There are Orange marches in parts of  Africa, for example, as well as in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.  There are lots and lots of Orange marches in Scotland, as Katie will testify.  And there are occasional parades in England.

Without knowing anything about my religious or political views, and not caring in the nicest possible way, a few weeks ago Katie insisted that I accompany her and family to Tuesday's Twelfth parades in Southport, Lancashire .

I told her it was unlikely I could go as I probably had to work.  And I did have to work, as I told her last week. She replied: "Not a problem, your loss, I'll get you some King Billy rock."

I happened to nip into Morrisons on Wednesday, the morning after the parades the day before.

And this is a close-up of what Kaite had for me inside her jacket and you can see her holding above.

Jamie and Charlotte were thrilled at the outcome when I handed them one each, courtesy of Kate.

I like Kate.  She's my friend.