Can we have our statue back please?

In an outrageous attack on civlised values a small group of lowlifes stole the statue Voyage from its plinth during the Summer. At over 300kg it's reckoned to be worth about £1200 in scrap so if you're in a pub and a dodgy looking guy offers you a bronze statue cheap you know who to call.

Prinny Ave

Here's Princes Avenue or Prinny Ave as it is usually called. Is it just a Hull thing to abbreviate names of streets? So Cottingham Road becomes Cott Road and Beverley Road is Bev Road.
At one time there were no pubs or cafes on this street now it the place for 'continental style' eating out with ten or so establishments. It does not have the bad reputation that the city centre has for loutish behaviour and as a consequence is quite a popular area.

Three heads are better than one

This curious carving is on Cottingham's church. I'm guessing it had deep meaning when originally carved possibly something theological (the old three-in-one trick) or perhaps it symbolises some mediaeval merchant banker capable of saying three conflicting statements while looking out for number one. Hmmm.

Cliff Mill, Hessle

Close to the Humber Bridge stands this old mill which was built, so the web tells me, in 1806. In case you were wondering that small change in height in the foreground counts as a cliff in these parts.

Look thy last on all things lovely

Just off Hallgate there's a small garden with seats and ringed by trees and bushes. It was built as a memorial for the dead of two world wars. It's a nice place to sit for a few minutes and get away from the hurly burly of Cottingham life. Has Cottingham ever had a hurly or even a burly?
Now, however, many of the trees are to be removed. OK some of them are diseased like this cherry but some are being cut down for the sin of having grown too tall and some plum trees are guilty of growing plums which then fall on the path.They've been doing that for 80 or more years but someone's just noticed and complained. It's a shame but then we all know what councils are like.

Black Over Will's Mother's

Here's Bridlington all lit up in the September sun against the blackest of black skies. It didn't rain; least not while I was there.

Sunshine and Showers

A stroll along Bridlington's new promenade in September means taking your chances with the weather.

Bridlington Promenade

I've mentioned before how Bridlington has been improving itself with an upgrade of its seafront fittings. This is the new promenade running for about a mile or so to the south of the town. It is edged by continuous seating; imagine a mile long bench! The white building is the Spa, an art deco renovation costing millions.

The view from the bank.

The newish Barclay's bank has wonderful blue reflective windows so I had to point the Fuji and click. That's the City Hall in the background.

Taking Liberties

Here's what's left of Pearson Park gates. They were put up in the 1860s when carriages had a horse or two in front of them and well-to-do folks lived in those town houses that line the approach. Now the horses and the money have gone.What you see here are the skeletal remains of a fine set of Victorian iron gates that once had fancy decorations on top and actual gates (see here). The gates went in the last war I'm guessing and the fancy decoration was rmoved by Hull council in a fit of health & safety vandalism and stupidity sometime in the 70s.

***
Now for a totally separate issue. It has come to my notice that the domain directrss.co.il is using the RSS feed from this site and probably from other blogs to make virtually a direct copy only with their advertising. I don't mind people "borrowing" a picture or two but to copy the whole blog is taking liberties. I have reported these offenders to Blogger. If anyone finds their site has been used likewise I suggest they report the matter as well. The following message is for the owners of directrss.co.il.

אתר זה מוגן בזכויות יוצרים ואתה הפרת זכויות היוצרים שלי.  

Up tails all!

The Sick Rose

O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.

William Blake

Across the road from the Bull is one of Hull's many closed pubs. This one has a history of attracting what can only be called a bohemian clientele, thieves, drunkards, imps, pimps and banjo players. Finally the landlords helped themselves to the takings. The observant will notice it is on the corner of Park Lane; this is one of Hull's little jokes, Mayfair is just up the road; as you can see it's more Old Kent Road.

Local Perspective

This is the West Bulls (is a bull theme developing here?) which is at the end of my street and which you might call my local if I ever went into such establishments.

Other perspectives are on view here.

The Bull

The Bull sits on the corner of Stepney Lane and Beverley Road. Its a typical Victorian pub that has seen better days but somehow is managing to survive.

Ray

Funny how things can surround you without them being noticed. Take this pavement art; been sitting on the river front for nearly twenty years but I only noticed it the other day. It's part of a sculpture trail called 'The Seven Seas Fish Pavement' sponsored by a local fish oil processor. You can find more information here and some kind (possibly sad) soul has investigated the geology of the sculptures so for all you rock fans there's a link here.

Step this way for the Dinosaur Experience

On the corner of Humber Street and Queen Street, a part of town that makes run down seem upmarket, there's Dinostar, a Dinosaur Shop and Museum. Don't ask me what goes on in there as when I was there they were doing it up but it claims to be "Yorkshire's only dinosaur visitor attraction" so that's something I guess.

On Reflection ...

Perhaps I'll post some more now and again ...

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.

View Larger Map

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.