Change of signs

Just two and half weeks now to the C of C and what better time to change all the boundary signs to advertise this auspicious event. Pedants have already moaned at the abbreviated name; "Wot no Kingston-Upon-Hull!" 'tis an outrage! a sin against nature! have they no sense of history! and so on. Still no-one on the planet, not even the pedants themselves, call the place anything other than Hull. If you are wondering what the old signs looked like they were very blue and yellow which may go down well in Sweden but to me they weren't very welcoming. I think this is something of an improvement. The UK C of C thing is going to date in a few years meaning even more signs; it all makes work for the working man to do.

Quite Gratuitous

Well now there's  Margot saying the other day "Oh that'll be removed in a day or so". "What?" says I. "The bare backsides advertising a student accommodation agent" says herself. "The what now? Surely not ..." says I in all innocence. "Oh! ... I see what you mean" ...

And there's more; there's two gentlemen with their trousers around their ankles and the "Your place or mine?" tagline ... and all this on staid old Newland Avenue. There's not be such goings on since a dominatrix was boarded up in a massage parlour a couple of years back.

Now I don't mind a bit of smutty innuendo now and then I mean it's so full of, well, do I need to draw you a picture?. But not everyone, it seems, shares my view which is perhaps just as well. So cue the obligatory social media indignation from the PC (Puritanical Claptrap) brigade, the perennially silly and ever available for a quote MP for North Hull up on her hind legs with Tweets about "sleaze" and "brothels" and "portrayals of sex acts" (such a dirty mind she must have). And the cries of it objectifying women (but not men, note) and "will no-one think of the children" (who see far more and worse on their computers and phones before breakfast) etc etc etc. Those who wished to be offended were duly offended which is as it should be and they are no doubt smugly content.

Anyhow the accommodation agency have "organised the immediate removal of the images" but not so immediate that I was unable to take a leisurely stroll back down Newland Avenue to refresh my memory and verify my facts as it were.

Joining the dots

Do they still have those games for children where you have to draw a line from one number to the next until a kind of hazy picture emerged and you were supposed to think, wow, I drew that? I've often wondered if working in an office might not be just a bigger paid version of the same thing. 

The weekend in black and white is here.

Falling haloes, whips and other seasonal failings

It's that time of year for silly window displays. Here we have some seemingly drunken winking mannequins tottering over to starboard with haloes at what can only be called a jaunty angle. If the intent was to say that angels get their kit at this shop I think it merits a glorious fail.

A few doors down we have a mannequin with a whip for no discernible reason. Maybe for some festive flagellation; who knows. Maybe whipping up trade ... any way another fail I think.

And speaking of failure these shops are on Whitefriargate which, in the past, has had seasonal lighting that at least looked faintly impressive. This year there's a tawdry single string of lights. Pathetic really, maybe they shouldn't have bothered.

Use Alternative Crossing

I may have mentioned, from time to time, the troubles and tribulations caused to this wonderful town by the presence of the A63 sometimes known as Castle Street and universally regarded as a pain in the fundament. Well now Highways England which is responsible for all this decided to upgrade a pedestrian crossing and work commenced in October ... and here we are at the end of the first week of December with no crossing, no upgrade, no work being done, no workers on site, nada, rien, zip!. Questions are asked by Councillors as to just what on earth is going on here (not a lot, clearly). Highways England are the folk who have promised to improve this road but have yet to submit planning applications ("We're working on it", they say and have been saying for years) and if it takes this long for them to upgrade a crossing (come to think of it how do you upgrade a crossing?) then I shudder to think how long any improvements to the actual road will take. 

Just a little footnote here. This crossing is the most direct route to the Marina and Fruit Market area where many of next year's City of Culture events are happening. That all kicks off in a little over three weeks. Just sayin' is all.

Camera shy

I thought I had seen most of this town's statues so it was a bit of a surprise to catch this lump out of the corner of my corner as I was passing through Zebedee's Yard the other day. The reason I hadn't seen it before was that it's in an enclosed yard behind a wall and only visible through iron bars in window-like openings which explains the odd angle. There's a much better picture of it here along with a little info. 

'Ole in the ground, so big and sort o' round it was

After a vote of residents on what they wanted for the remains of the Beverley Gate (aka the Hull Hole) the Council, in its wisdom, decided not to cover up the few old bricks but instead create an even bigger hole with seating and landscaping and so on. Quite how this bigger, better hole won't end up the haunt of disaffected young folks and who will pick up the litter that will inevitably fall in I don't know. Still I'd better not make too many adverse comments or I might end up like the poor chap in this cautionary tale; enjoy:

Rising in the East

These impressive towers, just a shade under 300 feet (I'm of an age that doesn't do metric), are the first outward sign that production has really gotten off the ground at the new Siemens wind power plant in east Hull. The blades that go with these babies are nearly 250 feet long. When it comes to wind power it seems size matters. These are destined to sit in the North Sea and power our homes and industry at least while the wind blows. I suppose we'll get used to seeing these things over the coming years but they were quite a surprise when first seen the other day.

Orange men

Queen Victoria Square was veritable hive of activity as the finishing touches are applied to the multi-million pound make over. We are absolutely assured that it will all be completed this month all that is except the new water features which won't be activated until Winter is over. I toyed with using this for the 'transitions' theme yesterday but I realised that actually nothing much has changed just the size of the brick paving. 

 

The barriers of course remain and if anything the maze has become even more complicated to pass through. In this picture you can see some of the old paving bricks that somehow have survived. They weren't pretty. Below the new paving which is more varied but hardly eye-catching and certainly not worth the months of disruption and loss of trade and business.

The end of November

It's not often people stop and gawp at the sky but yesterday's flaming sunset was quite a spectacle and had folks looking up in amazement. I stood by the river and watched the old Sol Invictus disappear behind Lincolnshire's pylons and, of course, I pointed my camera at it just like you're not supposed to (eyesight is overrated).

Today's first of the month theme for City Daily Photo is "Transitions".

Sunset silhouette and shadows

Not much to say about these; they are what they are. Margot wants the world to know she took the top picture.

What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?

Here's a familiar sight on a Friday evening on Beverley Road, traffic tailing back to the town centre and not moving much faster than a horse and cart did two centuries ago. But this is bliss compared to the predicted Carmageddon to come on Monday and Tuesday when a section of Ferensway is to be completely closed to allow the completion of some road improvement. A three mile diversion (!) has been put in place involving crossing the river twice. Now even at the best of times those river crossings are bottlenecks and with all the extra traffic it's going to be so much fun. The official advice is to take a bus instead of your car but being stuck on a bus in giant gridlock wont improve things much. My advice: stay in bed.

The weekend in black and white is here.

Roundabouts but no swings

Quite the most pointless roundabout in town. Behind are the battery farms off Osborne Street where people are raised to become awesome citizens and quite a few of them are.

O tidings of comfort and joy!

For the past fortnight or so a few dozen homeless folks have been camping around the fountain in Queen's Gardens. It was a protest at what was perceived to be the uncaring attitude of the Council towards rough sleepers; they wanted to be put in houses or flats rather than put in hostels. I don't know the rights and wrongs of this issue and I'm coming here with less than half a story as by the time I got round to going to town the camp had been evicted leaving only this colourful tent which was pulled down just after I took this on Thursday. The next day the Council planted four big Xmas trees on the site, well we can't have the poor and  homeless ruining the season of good will to all men now, can we?

Déjà vu all over again

I happened upon a train having a shower the other day (as you do) and was wondering how I could lever this image into this blog. I need not have worried.

Back in the glorious sixties and seventies when motorways were being built up and down and across the country somehow Hull missed out. No three lane transportation route thunders into one of the UK's largest ports. The M62 would stop many miles west of the city and a two lane dual carriage way was considered sufficient from that point on. Well it wasn't and it isn't. And the city and port of Hull is still suffering from that short sighted penny pinching attitude. Screech forward to today and the track from Liverpool westward (equivalent to the M62) will be electrified but the Government has decided in its infinite stupidity that the rail line from Hull to Selby will not be electrified. So passengers from London or Liverpool will have to switch trains and go back half a century or more in terms of rail transport. Freight will have to be moved by practically antique, in terms of technology, engines. This is a despicable decision from a Department of Transport that is unfit for purpose, that clearly has nothing but contempt for the city of Hull, that has still not even put in place plans to alleviate the mess it caused back in the seventies. Ah well we are unloved but we have the culture ... and the old push-me-pull-you trains will be clean for the next fifty years of service.

It's da Green Manalishi with the two prong crown

The relentless principle of monetising every inch of space has reared its ugly head again in the aspirant city of culture. On what was an open area with seating there has now been plonked, a big glass box with a ridiculous double-projecting roof. The purpose of this structure is the sale of warm water infused with the dust of the beans of the coffee plant. Yup, yet another coffee shop.

Grey Days Ahead

Melancholy and utopia are heads and tails of the same coin.

Günter Grass

 

The time has come, I think, to withdraw into my shell and let the flood of the world's insanity pass over me. I may be some time ...

 

The weekend in black and whiter is here

On Newland Avenue the poppies blow ...

It will not surprise you to learn I'm not one for poppy wearing or remembering past wars and all the dead and all that business. My old grandad  joined up to fight in the first European madness; he fancied wearing a kilt so he and his brother joined a Scottish regiment just for that reason! His brother didn't come back. (let's hope insanity does get passed on) Any hoo he would say he had no time for the sycophantic Royal British Legion and their revelling in the horrors of the Somme and so on. So what was good enough for old Joe is good enough for me. Strikes me that every year there's more and more of this enforced, dare I say phoney,  'remembrance' of past hostilities (for example, everyone on TV has to wear a poppy or face obloquy from the self-appointed arbiters of public decency) when a bit, nay, a large dollop of forgetfulness might be in order. Enough of this dwelling on the past.

What we have here is part of a grandly insane scheme by a local lady to knit or crochet over 3000 woollen poppies and plant them in all the flower boxes on Newland Avenue. I suppose it's impressive if that's the sort of thing that impresses you. With the inevitability of the sun rising in the morning some toe rag stole a set of poppies. Go take up your quarrel with the foe ...

Nice mural, shame about the building

They say if you stare this mural for long enough (in my case over thirty years on and off) you can see 'Hull' spelled out by the masts and rigging of the boats. I wouldn't worry if you don't see it.

This is the now empty BHS store and I've shown it before in better times. I'm showing it now because there's a bit of a storm in a teacup brewing over getting the mural some protection from removal or demolition and so on. The powers that be have said that the 1960's work by Alan Boyson "does not reach the standard for listing compared to other examples". There's another mural inside, which I don't remember ever seeing, and that too was not listed. This decision has not met with universal approval and a petition has been set up to get the Council to do something about it. (You can sign it here should you wish.) It's not difficult to discern the dark arts being employed here. If this does get listed then that building will be damn difficult to demolish without a lot of expense and I think that building really should come down if only to subtract one ugly thing from the planet. So I signed the petition; to lose the mural would be like losing an old friend, but I'll sign one to remove the building as well if anyone were to put one up. Go figure.

All Gone A Bit Pete Tong

I thought on this day a wonky reflection of the statue of liberty might be apposite.

A year where things happen that weren't supposed to happen has topped itself out nicely with the election, as President, of Mr Trump in the good old US of A. Democracy does have a tendency to demock, as it were, and this year has been a doozy for the 'baskets of deplorables' turning over the old certainties. (Politics 101 never, ever insult the voters, they may be hoopleheads but you keep that to yourself). Which is, I suppose why  we have these little things called elections. And the world is still spinning ... if a bit wobbly.

Skidby Mill

Rootling around my old photos for something to post I came across this one of Skidby Mill. It seems I took this a mere eleven years ago. The old mill I'm guessing will still look much the same which is more than can be said about myself or indeed the original post. In the six years since I first posted all the links have been changed or lost, such is the impermanence of all things digital. So if you've a hankering to know more about this place then go here or here (but don't wait too long).

Sutton Road Selection

In Hull if you're out when the postman tries to deliver a package then it's sent to the Malmo Road sorting office and you can either have it redelivered on another day or you can go pick it up yourself. So it was that, with nothing better to do last week, we found ourselves on a number 7 bus heading towards the untold delights of Sutton Road and thereabouts. The place we had to go to was on a small industrial estate where the roads are all Scandinavian cities, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm and so on; there's even a Narvick Road ( ? ). Even with such fine names however an industrial estate is, I'm afraid, just an industrial estate and fairly dull at that. Best bit the was bridge leading back home ... 

Margot had the camera, I just went along for the ride.

Get your kicks ...

This route 66 goes not from Chicago to Santa Monica but "from central Manchester to Spurn Head via Bradford, Leeds, York, Beverley, and Kingston upon Hull". A kind of scenic version of the M62. Oh, and I am afraid you'll have to ride a bike or walk. Well it says it goes to Spurn Head but later on the page says that actually it stops at Saltend (I imagine just by  the BP chemical works, that's oh so pretty!). Ah but  the romance of cycling from Manchester to Hull is still there; isn't it?

Stretching things

There's really nothing new in this picture, the mural you've seen before, the bridge and the flood defence ditto; even the pigeon has probably popped up in a few postings. The site behind the mural which was going to be a twenty storey cigarette box or hotel has been sold to an unknown buyer, that is to say unknown to me. This is a panorama shot stitched together then squeezed in sideways and stretched in height just to give a strange view of a really flat scene. You don't have to like it.

I'm feeling a little wrung out and stretched as well as this household is getting over a wretched weekend of vomiting and diarrhoea caused by some virus, bug or other microbeastie whose vile little existence is either proof of ongoing evolution and adaptation or God's mysterious and divine plan. Sucks either way.

Poop the coop

Here's an advertisement for the effectiveness of bird protection measures; they work so well and the birds feel so protected they set up home.

Never thought I'd find a use for what is, in so many ways, a crap photo (taken by Margot I hasten to add) but then along comes City Daily Daily photo and their "out of focus" theme day. Well blame them ... they asked for it.

The Mighty Boo Sign

As a contribution to annual insanity that affects this country at the end of October (thank you USA; another great contribution to civilisation) here's a scary Boo sign. It's actually a sign for a café called Boom but the 'm' went walkabout sometime ago and no-one seems to have noticed ... or perhaps it was never there. Tell you the truth I didn't even notice if the café was still there. I maybe making all this up, I've not been well you  know ...

Keep Britian Tidy

Oh yes, it's a reminder to keep the the place tidy and well they can't even spell their own country right ... they meant well I suppose.

Margot spotted this delight.

Colour coded demolition

Well there goes the Osborne Street multi-storey car kennel to make way for a newer brighter better one. Also revealed are the colour codes for each floor in case remembering first floor or second floor or whatever was too onerous a task for the poor drivers of this town

Skell and Wiske

There was a time when it was the rather quaint custom to name university buildings after what when on in them. So physics was carried out in the physics building and administration was in the admin building (unless occupied by students, those were the days my friend). Any way you get the simple idea of connecting name with function. Well that's just so much antiquated nonsense and leaves no room for play by imaginative busybodies with far too much spare time on their hands. So now physics is in the Robert Blackburn building and admin in the Venn building. But that's just getting started; what you need to do is to name buildings after some really obscure rivers in Yorkshire and see if anyone can guess just what on earth goes on in them (I suspect very little but then I'm just an old grump). These are just two of a good half dozen or so rivers that I spotted recently.

Just throw a load of money at it

Here's a little story with a happy ending. Last year I posted about a sad little house that had fallen on hard times. Here it is again, a year later much work done and many thousands of pounds spent. These pictures were taken in May so I expect someone's moved in and is enjoying this remarkable renovation work.

The Happy Couple

A couple of students celebrate paying off their loans by getting married ...


Margot K Juby took this delightful shot.

Friendly Crow

Have I mentioned before that I think crows are a bit special? This one simply would not budge until I took its picture, so what was I to do?

Meanwhile in another part of town (and on a different planet perhaps) there were complaints that crows on Holderness Road were getting too bold and "intimidating" people because (and now we reach new heights of fantasy) the local McDs was closed for a refurb! "Crows on the rampage in Hull because they can't get their McDonald's fix" ran the headline. For heaven's sake! Are the folk of East Hull who survived the Blitz without so much as a whimper suddenly afraid of a few feathered friends? Two crows were seen pecking at a dead pigeon which it was claimed they had killed! Something must be done about it! Well no, something must not be done about it. "Carrion Crows Eat Carrion" wouldn't really make much of a story but in the febrile imagination of a local journo it's practically Hitchcockian out on Holdy Road. Just to be absolutely clear on this, crows clear up the mess made by people; it's either them or rats, you make your choice.

The weekend in black and white is here.

Sky and wires

Here's Sharp Street with its new bunch of houses on the site of the old Goodfellows supermarket. Well they look a bit like houses but in fact they're really the size of rabbit hutches. They're student accommodation so clearly built to pack in as many wannabe debt slaves and rack out as much rent as possible.

Margot took this while I was in the shop doing her shopping; I think it's called job share or some such.

Spells of moths

I did promise not to go hunting for these commemorative glass fibre moths but it seems there's swarms of the little bleeders so you can't really avoid them. Each of these monsters is sponsored by some firm or other, the one below by a firm of solicitors and the blingy beast above by the kind folk who brought us all the orange barriers. So praises or brickbats are due to them. If you are at a complete loss as to why these moths are even here at all (and I do sympathise) then it's all explained here.

Rescue of a daft dog

So I'm taking a stroll by Victoria Pier when I notice the Humber Rescue guys climbing up the stairs at the end of the pier and with them a dog. Strange, I thought, what were they doing with a dog. I paid it no more mind until I got home and found the drama behind it all. Some dogs are just plain daft I suppose.

Comrade of Hull

Well here's a little bit of nautical history moored up in the Marina. The Comrade is a type of craft known as a Humber Keel designed to carry cargoes around the Humber and Trent. The design is ancient and thought to be based on Viking longships with a shallow draught and a square rigged sail. Comrade was built in 1923 and could get as far inland as Sheffield. It's last commercial voyage was in 1975 when it was acquired and renovated by the Humber Keel and Sloop Preservation Society. Of course it has its very own picture filled and informative website.  There's also a pretty comprehensive history of the vessel here.