This is MS Princess Seaways, one of the big DFDS cruiseferries that runs from North Shields, here in Newcastle, to IJmuiden, in the Netherlands.

It’s probably a ship with deep psychological issues: it was “born” in Germany in 1986 and was christened MS Peter Pan. It underwent a definitive sex change in 2006, when it became Princess of Norway, having used three other fairly gender neutral names in the interim, but has remained a princess of one sort or another ever since.

I always thought it was unlucky to rename a ship, but perhaps I’m wrong…!

This is just a few of the postcards I’ve received in the few weeks I’ve been Postcrossing. You can see them all on my “Postcard Wall”.

Postcrossing is slightly geeky but oddly fun as an occasional diversion – why not give it a try?

I’ve spied the new BHS on Newcastle’s Northumberland Street this afternoon. It’s in the building vacated by Next after they shuffled off into Eldon Square, and is a few doors up from its previous home, which has been subsumed into the expanding Primark.

Graham Soult has some great before-and-after comparison shots to see the impressive scale of the building’s transformation.

On my visit, my eye was drawn to the cafe on the second floor with floor-to-ceiling windows, which strikes me as a little vertiginous. I’m also not entirely keen on having two BHS signs above one another – I understand the logic (the higher one isn’t terribly visible from the doorway), but couldn’t they just have put a logo on the doors? There were six big visible logos on the frontage on my visit (four on posters), and it really cheapens the brand.

Anyway, I’m being picky. It’s a nice looking shop from the outside – certainly moreso than the old, unloved Next – and it’s a relief to get rid of some of Northumberland Street’s scaffolding!

I know that JC especially likes my photos of everyday objects… so here’s my milkshake from the Handmade Burger Company tonight!

Gosforth High Street features these two Victorian churches next to one another: a quite remarkable sight!

The church on the left of the photo is now a Loch Fyne seafood restaurant. It used to be Gosforth United Reformed Church, but in 2000, merged with two Methodist churches – one of which was the church on the right of this photo – to form the Trinity church, in the church on the right. Are you still following this story?

As an atheist who doesn’t like seafood, neither of the two buildings is especially likely to attract me. It seems fascinating that two branches of Christianity that were so split that they’d bother to build competing churches next to each other have now resolved their theological differences to such a degree that they’ve merged. Heigh ho, religion works in mysterious ways, and it’s always nice to see people patching up differences!

I took a slight detour from my usual commute today to rubber-neck at the Hartlepool nuclear power station. The plant crops up from time-to-time in my everyday work, especially (as well you might imagine) when discussing emergency planning.

Hartlepool’s plant produces about 3% of the UK’s electricity, and is already 3 years or so past the end of its designed lifespan. It’s been given permission to operate until 2019, by which time it’ll be a decade “out of date”. Permission has been given for it to be replaced by a more modern variant, but with the Government’s nuclear policy looking a little confused at the moment, goodness knows whether that will actually happen.

This station is especially interesting as it’s one of the world’s nearest nuclear plants to a residential area: Seaton Carew, the small but attractive seaside town where John “canoe-man” Darwin faked his own death, is little more than a mile away.

The Beeb has some interesting photos from inside the power station; or, if Teesside industry is your thing, you might want to see my photo from yesterday.

This is the prilling tower that’s part of the former ICI plant at Haverton Hill, in Stockton-on-Tees. Prilling is a process I heard about in GCSE chemistry, yet I never quite believed it was true.

Essentially, a chemical (ammonium nitrate in this case) is melted and pumped to the top of the tower, and then released in drops which cool and solidify as they fall, resulting in handy little balls of solid ammonium nitrate to use as fertiliser. It’s reminiscent of the shot towers of the 18th century, and it’s a little bit remarkable that such an early industrial technique is still a common way of producing something.

I know that fertiliser is still made at Haverton Hill, but I’m not sure whether the prilling tower itself is still operational. I suspect it probably is, as most of the big industrial sites surrounding it are clearly still active.

My 100th photo is of the war memorial in Lincoln. It stands in St Benedict’s Square in the city centre.

I tried to take a picture if the Stonebow, which was built in the 16th century and marks the position of the original Roman gate allowing access to the south of the city. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a disaster, not least as I took it from the back:

Still, it’s the 100th day of the year, and my 100th photo-a-day, so I must be doing something right!

The Swan Inn in Horning, where I had my lunch today with Wendy, my mum and dad, sister, brother-in-law, and three nephews. The frontage says it was built in 1897, but the website claims it dates back rather further. Either way, the food and company were good!

Today’s photo shows some boats moored on the Norfolk Broads near Wroxham, and some houses nearby. I’m carefully trying to avoid the killer shrimp while I’m here, of course!