County Hall, Beverley

Once upon a time the county of Yorkshire (known to some, but not me, as God's own county) was, like Gaul, divided into three parts or ridings. The north, west and east ridings had been there since Adam were a lad, as they say in these parts. Then some clever chap (a southerner) thought this will never do, so, in the name of progress, the ridings were abolished and new counties were manufactured. It came to pass that the monstrosity known as Humberside was brought forth into the world unloved and unwanted and foisted onto the good folk of the east riding and north Lincolnshire. It couldn't last and it didn't last. With a haste that central government has never shown before (that is to say after 22 years) the East Riding of Yorkshire Council was recreated. Throughout all the shenanigans County Hall in Beverley has been the seat of local political and administrative power. Standing red and resolute, it's a conservative looking building with a conservative party in office in saecula saeculorum or so it would appear.

Odd thing

This strange looking thing sits on Bridlington's south pier. I have absolutely no idea what it is or if it still works as I've never seen anyone using it. There are two or three similar devices further along so if anyone knows what they are they could let me know.

Goodbye Goodfellows

Here was the Goodfellows supermarket on Sharp Street which had been closed for a while. It was knocked down, picked up, dumped in a big lorry and taken away. They (whoever they may be) intend to build houses on the site. Well nothing is ever as straight forward as that, is it? There's the problem of what is going to happen to the WW1 memorial that used to hang on the corner. It's a reminder of the hundred or so men from the street who went to war; many of whose descendants and relatives still live on Sharp Street. Now it's sitting in a council office waiting for the developers to make good on their promise to reinstall it. [ 1 ] Is that trouble brewing I can smell?

Leaving

A yacht leaves the marina. I wonder where they could be going that's so good they'd want to leave Hull.

A not so dull day in Hull

Wind! Hull is set on making a living out of wind power. The council earlier this week gave planning permission for a massive wind turbine construction site on a disused dock. If Siemens actually do what they say they want to do then this will greatly change Hull's prospects [ 1 ]. There's talk of thousands of jobs, many of them skilled engineering jobs. But so far it's still just talk and with the way things stand in Europe at the moment it's probably wiser not to plan too far ahead.

Here, however, is something more tangible. Here's a support platform for the Lincs Wind Farm being built off the Lincolnshire coast. It's being fitted up at the Albert dock. I showed you this on that dull day in Hull. Pure ignorance on my part to call it a drilling rig.

Old Fishing Boat

Looking a bit out of place amongst the expensive yachts and snazzy powerboats this old trawler, Mariner 1, is having a makeover into a genteel houseboat.

Things to do on a unicycle

So I'm having  a stroll round the dock when I come across a couple of shifty looking characters who waited till I got past them before one of them hops on a unicycle and proceeds to pedal, calm as you like, round the perimeter wall of the dock entrance. The wall is about eighteen inches wide and four or five feet high; fall off and it's a small pathway between safety and a drop into the dock. He made it safe enough until he came to some steps when he simply hopped down the steps, still on the cycle, and pedalled away round the corner. His mate was filming the whole event on a phone, he probably got better shots than me as it took me a while to get my trusty Fuji out of my bag. 

If you're wondering about things not to do on a unicycle I came across this page which is full of really useful tips.