Hull Tidal Barrier

I'm posting this on Tuesday because Monday didn't happen. Tuesday isn't looking to be much of a day either ...

More Winter Trees

East Park, Hull

East wind

Weather vane on Ferensway

“The East Wind, an interloper in the dominions of Westerly Weather, is an impassive-faced tyrant with a sharp poniard held behind his back for a treacherous stab.”  Joseph Conrad

High pressure over Scandinavia is drawing around an easterly wind that, we are are informed, comes all the way from Siberia. I know a wind chill of -2C is but a balmy day for some hardy folk but for a soft Englishman like myself it cuts through to the bone.

Old and new

So here we range from a 14th century church (the same church that appears in the header of this blog) through an early 1900's market tower with cupola to a 1970's car park and even newer offices. It might not but much of a view but when or if that 18 storey hotel goes up it will be lost and buildings that are,even if not attractive, at least on a human scale will be dwarfed.

1 Timothy 5:18

Yesterday's figures  from our mendacious government claim a reduction in dole claimants. It is a fact not widely known that unemployed people who are placed on work related activities (workfare) are classed as being no longer unemployed. This sleight of hand, or lie if you will, instantly reduces the figures. The figures also hide the massive under-employment in this country with millions in part-time work. There is, of course, massive resentment at the use of unpaid labour in commercial firms but perhaps the biggest ire is aimed at charities taking on so-called volunteers who are nothing of the sort and cannot leave for fear of losing benefits for up to three years. Thankfully many firms and charities have withdrawn from the scheme. There are many small protests up and down the country about this but I suspect that when the diabolical changes to housing benefit and council tax benefit come into effect in April we shall see massive protests.

Today's image is part of a dozen or so on a wall facing the river showing trades and skills from the past. It shows a navvy who would never have dreamt of working for no pay.

Toys "Я" Them

I don't know what children make of this big impersonal toy supermarket. Clearly it's not aimed at them but at their parent's wallets. Still the sign's colourful. 

High hopes on High Street

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a plot of land standing idle must be in want of a hotel. So this site between High Street and the river has been earmarked for an "iconic" 22 storey hotel and conference centre [ 1 ].  Well in the intervening six months 22 has become 18 and no doubt by the time it ever gets built it'll be 5 or 6. Here's an impression of the latest scheme, it's a wonderful box shape don't you think, so original and so in keeping with the area. Readers with long memories may recall a proposal I mentioned to build a hotel complex a little further up the river at Clarence Mill two years ago almost to the day [ 2 ]; well nothing has come of that little plan either.