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....