The End

At some point this "blog" has got to end. I'm not taking  photos and Hull is not getting any better so now seems like a good time to say good bye. 

Apple Blossom

Blocks of colour

At some stage in the early 1960s council house strategy changed from building estates of houses to putting one house on top of another in a tower. Central government subsidised tower blocks, the higher the block the bigger the grant. So it's no surprise to find inner cities filled with high rise accommodation. Hull has a fair few of these buildings; the ones on the outer estates are destined for demolition soon. This pair on Great Thornton Street are relative small and seem to have been painted in gaudy colours, perhaps the contractor had a job lot of cheap paint.

War & wooly hats

This is Hull's memorial to the dead of the Boer Wars , behind it is the much larger but less interesting memorial to the World War dead. Practically every town and village in the country has a war memorial of some sort and every November people stand there with their wreaths and flags and so on. Doesn't seem to stop any wars nor does it stop the killing. Since the end of WW2 there has been only one year in which there were no deaths of British soldiers on active service.
 This statue is well liked by the people of Hull. It was unveiled in a fancy ceremony in 1904. (There are pictures here). In really cold weather kind souls often adorn the soldiers' heads with wooly hats to keep them warm. It doesn't get more dulce et decorum.

Beverley Beck

Beverley Beck connects Beverley with the River Hull and so on to the rest of the world. The town was a trading post of the Hanseatic League so this little creek would once have had traders from all over northern Europe. Modern housing developments have replaced the old tanneries that lined the beckside. The barge you can see is the Syntan which featured previously here. 

A diddling thing

Imagine spending months onboard a whaling ship with no internet, TV or newspapers. It might seem like bliss but eventually the desire to do something will take over and as it's a whaling ship there's plenty of bits of whale to play with. So it was that scrimshaw came about, the art of making stuff with whalebits. The label in the museum says its a winder for wool but I doubt it has ever been used for such a mundane task; no, it's function is simply to be made.

Reedmace, bullrush, cattail or punk

Call them what you like.
On the way to Cottingham is a sort of wildlife/nature place that gets flooded in Winter and rarely dries out in Summer. These reeds are doing their best to convert this marsh to dry land.

Faites vos jeux

Here's a building that symbolises the slimy decline of this country into a cesspit of gambling and decadence. Behold the former headquarters of the Transport & General Workers Union and now a .... well you can see what it is ...

Cherry Blossom Time

To protect their cherry trees gardeners in Cottingham have wrapped them in large bubbles....

Market Cross, Beverley

 Built in 1714 this cross dominates the Saturday Market place in Beverley.

Crossing the track

Snuff Mill Lane crossing.

Hibernation

Had a trip to Bridlington the other day; it was still in hibernation. None of the tourist traps were open especially not these fun boats that I posted last week (that picture was sometime ago). The weather though fine had a wuthering westerly wind which is better than a nithering north easter, believe me.

What is the opposite of improvement?

This is the new "improved" South Marine Drive leading to Bridlington Spa. You can see how it used to look below. (Thank you Mr Google). We've lost the comfortable seats, a clear seaview and a clasic seaside floral garden for some tatty gravel and incongruous photographs of  who knows what blocking the view.

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White horse

It's a bit like those annoying Where's Wally puzzles but there is a horse in there somewhere.

Three horses

I assure you there are three horses in this picture; just count the legs.

Recycling

Cutting edge technology

Hard to imagine this old plough as the height of farming sophistication. It's just lying by the path along with other bits and bobs of discarded agricultural hardware.

Electrician

As this hardy soul was up aloft fixing the pylon about a dozen or so asssociates were on the ground looking up. Says one "You wouldn't believe how hard it is to get men to go up there"; must be the understatement of the year. And, yes, the power is still on.

A means to an end

 

Many dislike long lines of pylons stretching across the countryside yet they still wish to have the benefits of cheap and reliable electricity. 

 

I have just learned that pylon is in fact a UK colloquial term for what others call a transmission tower; Australians use the term ironman and Canadians have hydro towers. They come in many shapes, sizes and colours but their function is simply to carry the cables from the power plant to your home. The strangest designs I have come across are here.

All photos by Margot K Juby

Whan that April with his showres soote ...

Photo by Margot K Juby

...then longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,...

Er, not quite. This palmer is none other than your man himself on the path to Beverley. There are modern ways of getting from Cottingham to Beverley by car, bus or train journeys of a few minutes duration; this is the old bridle path that winds its way around field edges for three and half miles and, due to dawdling and admiring the view and so on, took over two hours. Even then it was more by accident than design as having got to where yesterday's picture was taken from and seeing the minster in the distance it was a case of returning were as tedious as go o'er. At least we had Zephyrus (with his sweete breeth) on our backs all the way.

Power lines

Photo by Margot K Juby

There are plans to loosen the regulations regarding the siting of pylons and power lines so sights like this could be coming to a beauty spot near you. 

Making waves

Unintended Consequences

A few years ago the good folk of Bridlington had a major headache; herring gulls were nesting on the old buildings of the town and causing a mighty mess. Their habit of dive bombing passers-by caused distress and loss of trade. So, to prevent this, long spikes were fitted to window ledges and roof tops. It was a great success, the herring gulls hated the spikes and left. 

However kittiwakes, the birds you see here, simply used the spikes to fasten their nesting material to the building and took over the place. I guess it beats trying to nest on a cliff. Kittiwakes are the smallest gull that we have around here and are much less aggressive and really quite pretty for a gull. In recent years the UK kittiwake population has plummeted and several colonies have been wiped out so it's good to see these birds thriving even if in unusual circumstances.

Edges

 It's April 1st, Fool's Day and the year a quarter over already!

For some reason or other City Daily Photo's theme today is "Edges" . To see what others have made of this the following instruction will help...  Click here