True Grit

This year has been the second warmest on record and this month has been 1C above average. All of which means this place is pretty redundant for the moment. It's the Beverley grit depot for the council's highway department. Last year they nearly ran out of supplies in December. Still there's plenty of Winter left.

Chemistry, boring?

They say you should never judge a book by its cover and maybe the same applies to buildings. This drab 1950s brick building is possibly the most boring building in Hull but it has played an important part in the development of the modern world. It's difficult to imagine a world without liquid crystal displays; they're on your phone, your clocks, instrument panels, monitor screens and so on. Without the work of Professor Gray in this building developing liquid crystals that were stable at room temperature we might be living in a very different world. Who said chemistry is boring?

Brynmor Jones Library

In the dim distant days of last year I posted about this building (here) so I thought I'd show a different angle. I have to say this is an odd building; the massive cube looks like an aberrant addition to a more modest brick building whose art deco entrance is still in use today.

No Trains

I took this on Sunday when, for some reason, there were no trains running, which is just as well if you're going to play about on the tracks.

Sunsets and Puddles

Taken by Margot K Juby

Last year's silly cold weather has been followed this year with even sillier weather. Temperatures today(14C/57F) are near a record high for late December. With clear skies we've been having some stunning sunsets; this one captured in the puddles of Snuff Mill Lane.

Creep down the alleyway

You never quite know what is waiting for you when you go down the alleyway's of Hull.

Fountain by night

Here's the fountain in Queen's Gardens all lit up.  

Here it is during daylight.

Winter sunset

They close the park at sunset; that's about two minutes after I took this shot.

Beverley Minster

After yesterday's long range shot here's one a bit closer. I know what you're thinking; why didn't I stand a little further back to take this shot? Well I would have but in the 18th century some inconsiderate person built a row of houses right alongside so I couldn't, now if only they'd thought .... This is the western end of the minster and I'm sure you'll agree it's a fine piece of gothic construction.

Minster money pit

Here's Beverley Minster taken last Spring, you can just make out the blossom in hedgerow.This is the view from the aptly named Long Lane; I guess this view hasn't changed in many centuries. 

This imposing building, built by an old power long gone, is now a tourist attraction with an insatiable demand for money to keep the rain out. I suspect it was ever thus.

The next to arrive at platform 2 ...

...is my train home.

christmas in hull dot co dot uk

When the early christians took over the pagan end of year festivals I suspect they had little idea of their own feast being taken over in turn by pursuit of sales. Still the lights are pretty enough and the crowds a lot thinner than in previous years; after all you can do it all online now.

Side Elevation

Here is 'One Humber Quays'; an office block built with taxpayers' money as part of a £17 million pound development in 2006. It stood half empty for five years whilst it housed a branch of the World Trade Centre. Earlier this year the WTC decamped to smaller premises. Under the new government's policy of dismantling anything and everything the old government did the place was sold, in what can only be called a depressed market, for considerably less than cost. This is what happens when you have a 'build it and they'll come' approach to redevelopment; you build it and they come and they take it for a song. It goes without saying that no politician or official was hurt during the making of this flim flam.

The Emigrants

This statue on the waterfront near Humber Dock commemorates the more than two million European emigrants who passed through Hull on their way to America in the 19th century until the outbreak of war in 1914. That's a lot of people moving themselves out of Europe and into America; I wonder if America would be so welcoming to another flood if times get tough in Europe. 

If you're a Liverpudlian and you think this looks familiar that's because there's an identical copy at the Albert Dock, Liverpool. The sculpture is by Neil Hadlock, Mark DeGraffenried and Taylor Hadlock from Utah and was donated by a Mormon led foundation in 2001, here's a link to more on this.

Fun with the sun

The December sun sets early and casts some really long shadows. The mill above I've shown before here. The temptation to take a silly picture was overwhelming so I gave in.

Winter draws on again

So to Westwood and another visit to this old chestnut tree that I showed round about this time last year. This year it's mild with no real frosts or snow unlike the deep freeze of last year. It can stay like this as far as I'm concerned.

Tight squeeze

Somebody's expensive toy makes its way into the marina.

Bah Bah Humbug

Betty Boop and a sheep standing outside a shop can only mean one thing; it's Xmas and the shops are getting desperate for our money.

Closed for the season

If you were to stand here anytime between, say, May and the end of September you'd be surrounded by crowds of day trippers and holiday makers stuffing their faces with fish and chips and burgers while gawping at the harbour. There'd be dozens of gulls to help them consume their repast. Come in December, however, and you have the place to yourself; just be sure to wrap up warm.

Rising of the moon

I didn't get to see the lunar eclipse yeserday but I did catch this nearly full moon rising over Bridlington on Friday.

Going down of the sun

The storm I mentioned yesterday has also meant that the fishing fleet has had to stay in harbour along with a visiting pirate ship.

Stormy weather

Yesterday we had the first real storm of the Winter with high winds and some heavy rain. The sea today was still very rough and this wave nearly caught me out.

Reflective Colours

Oh no, not another toad! I thought I'd seen the back of these critters until I came across this little dazzling beauty outside the Arc building on Queen Street. It's part of last year's 'Larkin with Toads' ballyhoo. The artist is Sue Kershaw who has a website here.

Before these toads drive me completely mad I must tell you the Larkin with Toads scheme was voted the "Most Remarkable Experience in Hull and East Yorkshire" and was also the winner of the Yorkshire Tourism Event of the Year award. Enough, that's it; no more toads ....

Neptune

Built in 1794 the Neptune Hotel in Whitefriargate was supposed to cater to captains and merchants using the newly opened docks. However things didn't quite work out and the building became the Customs House in 1815 until 1912. Nowadays the banqueting hall is the staff canteen of Boots the chemist. This little figure is the keystone of the entrance archway.

Autumn Cemetery

By Margot K Juby

 This angel is in Spring Bank cemetery, a wonderful place to wander through especially in Autumn.

In memoriam

In the Transport Museum gardens there's this tiny memorial to the human cost of the motor industry. It is about a foot tall. Last year 1,850 people were killed on the roads of UK; over the years millions have been killed or injured. If the internal combustion engine were a drug it would have been banned years ago. I see our city streets as a killing field and pedestrians as innocent victims of the drive for profit. And before you ask, no, I don't drive.
If you're of a curious disposition or are just plain morbid the BBC have a page on UK road traffic casualities here.

Missing letter effect

Swan Song

 

Here's a mute swan quietly drifting on East Park's boating lake. Mute swans are supposed to be silent until just before they die when they make a beautiful song. I don't know how true that is but someone has composed a tune based on the DNA of a swan! Isn't the internet a wonderful thing?

The Great Visitation of Cholera

 Lost in the wonderfully overgrown Spring Bank cemetery is this slightly leaning monument to a disastrous cholera outbreak in Hull in 1849. The plaque below gives the chilling numbers of dead; we can only imagine the horrors of those days. Nowadays with our clean drinking water and improved sanitation cholera is practically unknown in the UK but it stills kills over 100,000 mainly in the developing world.

Level Crossing

Waiting for the train to pass this little crowd gathered at the crossing on Spring Bank in October during Hull Fair week. I've noticed that there aren't many people in my photos so I'm making up for that with a whole bagful. 

Dive, dive, dive

The theme for this month's City Daily Photo is 'Action shot'. Well I trawled through my photos and came to the conclusion that my photos are possibly the most inactive on the planet. Then I stumbled on this forgotten image. Here's a red throated diver just about to pounce on some unsuspecting fish in Bridlington harbour.

If you want to see what others have made of this theme just click here.