Ellerman Wilson Line Building

We've come across the Wilson Line before [ 1 ] and these are the former offices of this once important shipping line. The company made its money shipping between Hull and Göteborg in Sweden. They carried many emigrants from Sweden and Norway to Hull as they headed to America. They had a monopoly on the trade and as always happens in these cases conditions for emigrants were hardly better than for cattle. [ 2 ] The Wilson Line was bought by Ellerman's in 1916 and the business eventually closed in the 1970's.

The building at the junction of Commercial Road and Kingston Street now houses a firm of architects. Below  is the weather vane atop the building.

Tenfoot

If you're ever in Hull and someone says they're going down the tenfoot, don't look at them as if they're from a different planet. They're just going down the numerous back alleyways that allow access for dustcarts and so on. They're called tenfoots  because ... well, you work it out.

Ice Cream or Coffee?

Today is the May bank holiday and if the weather forecast is correct it will be atrocious with high winds and plenty of much needed rain. (Since I last mentioned the drought we've had the wettest April for ages still not enough but welcome all the same.) This is Bridlington, a town that needs good weather to make a decent living. Sadly I don't think Notarianni will sell much ice cream but then there's always the hot coffee ...

Devil finding work for idle hands

I'm not certain that this is strictly a gargoyle since I couldn't see a spout to take water away but it looks pretty much like one to me. Anyway I was looking through some old photos and came across this winged beast and being at a lose end I thought I can 'do' something with that ...

The original is still hanging around Bridlington's priory unless it's flown off somewhere.

Desire Path

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line and no-one is going to walk round a space when they can go straight across it. Here's a classic desire path near Spring Street. It used to be a better kept area but the grass was destroyed when the space was used as storage for the construction of the St Stephens thingy you can see in the background.

City Centre Ironmonger

That nice red staircase on yesterday's post belongs to Scott's ironmongers. A Hull institution since 1943 serving the building trade and public with everything from nuts and bolts to locks, fasteners and tools and a whole lot more. The service is excellent and if Scott's haven't got it in stock it's a fair bet it doesn't exist. Their website is here.

The Star & Garter

I took this for the nice red staircase then I saw that I had included the Star & Garter in the shot. I've been in this pub maybe once or twice nearly thirty years ago. Dire is too good a word for the place. Looking back  I see now why the Samaritans building is so close by ....