On the huh

Flemingate, Beverley

This old house is not quite jizzicked but it's definitely on the huh.

I spy with my little eye something beginning with M ...

Well here's a pleasant enough old wall on Eastgate with an ancient gateway and all, must have been there for hundreds of years. Well no, not quite, maybe fifty or so. This was part of Beverley Priory situated behind where I took this photo and it was all cleared away to make room for housing. The gateway, from the 16^th century, was moved across the street in 1964 to "ensure permanent preservation" in the words of a nearby green plaque. The keen eyed amongst you might have noticed the Minster poking up in the background I don't think that has been moved recently.

Madder

OK I admit it's slightly perverse to post a monochrome picture of a plant that produces a deep red colouring for the dyers of this world. This is yet another part of Beverley's history trail (it's difficult to avoid) and it's on, appropriately, Dyer Lane. From what I've read it's the roots that are used and hard water, rich in calcium carbonate, produces the best results. Well, Beverley and all the East Riding sits on a chalky bedrock, so that really must have helped those medieval dyers.

The weekend in black and white is here.

One side of Beverley Beck

Been a while since I've had a walk by Beverley beck. Hasn't changed much.

My plan to cross over at this bridge and come back on the other side was thwarted by Balfour Beatty's  security fencing, something to do with repairs to the bridge.

More weekend reflections here.

The Creeler

Part of Beverley's history trail this bronze statue of a creeler is at the top end of the beck. Creeler is an old local term for someone who, in medieval times, did the hard work of shifting cargo to and from boats and without which the merchants of Beverley would have been up the beck without a paddle. This was sculpted by Chris Wormald and unveiled in 2010.

Can we have our bees back, please?

Someone armed with a stencil and a can of yellow paint is decorating the neighbourhood with these bees which is all well and good except there seems to more of these than the real buzzing little critters. OK maybe I exaggerate but I'm seeing far fewer than in past years. Anyhow there's a survey going on over at the Great British Bee Count to find out what's going on. Right I'll buzz off and leave you with that...

The White House

It's coming to something when a conversion of a pair of old railway cottages to a taxi office is looked on as some sort of 'good' thing. This newly painted up pair were destined to be converted into yet another restaurant to go along with the dozen or so others on Princes Avenue. A steel and glass extension was to have been clagged onto the side to "combine the best features of the period dwellings with high quality, sustainable design" (judge for yourself  here). The owners now feel there is "an over-provision of restaurants in the area" oh really? Surely not ...

Silly Cow

On Princes Avenue

Probably best to say as little as possible about this ...

Unfortunate

For twenty years or so (1840-1860) Hull had a zoo and in that zoo for a few weeks in 1860 there was a White Nile hippopotamus by the name of Bucheet, the first hippo in England outside of London. Now Bucheet means 'fortunate' in Arabic but I reckon this poor chap's life was far from that, being captured as a calf, transported in poor conditions half way round the world, exhibited in zoos in England before being shipped off to America and ending his days in Canada as a circus show piece, "G. C. Quick's Colossal Hippopotamus."! Even after death he was stuffed and exhibited. What we have here at the end of Albany Street is a marble statue of poor old Bucheet. It's part of a small zoological trail in the neighbourhood, there are bears at the other end of the street.

If hippos are your thing then Virtual Hippo World might be of interest to you.

A Taste of Full Flava

Out for a walk on Saturday when the sound of amplified voices drifted out of Pearson Park; it was the the Full Flava Festival transforming the small park into an arena of music and dancing and general good fun. The volume near the stage was such as to set your mesentery vibrating but if you didn't stand too close it was tolerable and there were plenty of other attractions as well.

Queenie was sure to do a mean hip-hop when no-one was looking.

Sunny Reflections

Quite what anyone working behind this office window thought of me as I lined up this shot I can only imagine. Maybe they get quite a few eejits attracted by the grand reflections and I'm just latest in a long line ... ideally this picture needs to be taken by a pencil slim person and not one with an ever thickening girth but what can you do?

Weekend Reflections are at the end of this link, here.

Take a pew

While in Holy Trinity the other day I took the opportunity to photograph some of the carved pew ends for which the place is well known. These may look medieval but were actually carved in the 1840's during restoration work on the church. They are the work of George Henry Peck a man, seemingly, of many talents, painter, carver, art dealer, art entrepreneur and musician who is possibly better known (if at all) in Australia than in Hull.

Thou shalt have a fishy on a little dishy ...

You turn your back for a moment and strange things pop up all over the place. I'd not been in town for a couple of weeks (yes it's possible to live without the delights of Hull) so it was a bit of surprise to find kitted fishes adorning the buildings and what can only be called woollen condoms for the Maritime Museum's guns. The reason for all this madness: 'Follow the Herring' celebrating the old east coast herring fishing industry. A major feature is the knitting of a 'coat for a boat' which you can see below, as I say they get up to all sorts when you're not looking ...

14th century font full of fish

Coat for a boat

Loudest Just Before The Dawn

For reasons that need not detain us I was up and about at that time when the sun is thinking about poking its head above the horizon for yet another day. At this time all the birds of the land decide to see who can make the most noise, this is called by naturalists the dawn chorus though I suspect insomniacs have other less favourable names for it. If you've a mind to listen I recorded a few minutes of the local avian choir in full voice at 3.45am. This is just my neighbourhood imagine this spread across the whole country indeed continents ...(There were a couple of cars going by, you get them all over the country as well)

Secured

Always a good idea to lock up your bike and in this case your helmet as well. It is a tad disconcerting, however, to see a grand looking lock lying on the floor with no bicycle attached! This reminds me of a story my father told of his buying a really expensive lock and chain for his bike only to find the thieves took the lock and left his bike ....

All this and so much more ...

Here listed are some of the delights of St Stephens, "Hull's most stylish shopping destination". Here you can fill up on all sorts of franchised fodder before taking in a movie or maybe working off your calories in the gym. Oh and there shops as well selling, you know, stuff.

The wheels on the bus go round and round ...

I wouldn't want you to think I was one of those souls who take pictures of buses for pleasure, no sir, I took these for historical record only. Actually I was bored waiting for someone and well, you know, the devil, idle hands etc etc. So, the buses in Hull are for most part red and cream or blue and white, very occasionally  black and that's just about all I can say about buses, they're not really my thing, honest.

Lurkin' Toad

If you're taking a short cut through the cemetery and get that feeling of something not quite right it might just be that giant toad that you glimpsed out of the corner of your eye ...

The Weekend in Black and White is here.

Perfect timing

Followers of this blog with exceptional memories may recall a post involving the Bradford and Bingley building which, in 2012, had been empty since the crash of our esteemed banking sector way back in whenever. Well the building is still empty but some enterprising folks have pasted art works in the windows. So I took a position across the street to get my photo when this young man walked past just as, well, as you see...