James Stuart JP

I've passed this statue on Holderness Road hundreds of times and thought that this guy must at least have been a famous politician, an MP or some such. I mean just look at the size of the pedestal. Turns out he was just some local councillor, president of the East Hull Liberal Association no less. He started a firm producing seed oil which eventually became British Oil & Cake Mills Ltd. So a big fish in a small pond. He is said to have been active in improving education in Hull (a truly sisyphean task). Apart from this I've no idea what he, as opposed to any other local bigwig, did  to merit such a statue, paid for by one Thomas Ferens, he of the art gallery. Normally this chap is adorned with a traffic cone to keep his head warm in the Winter nights but it's been so mild lately he's cast it off.

Half open or half shut?

Cottingham council offices

The latest news is that East Riding Council looks likely to freeze its council tax bills for the next year whilst at the same time cutting spending by £23 million. So we're paying the same but getting less in return, so no change there then. We don't know what little extras the parish council will come up with to pay for the flowers in the street and the increasingly objectionable Cottingham Day extravaganza. If government wanted to find a cut that would meet with almost universal approval then abolishing parish councils would be a sure winner. 

The Simpsons

Not Springfield, I'm afraid, but Spring Bank. 

Silos

Taken by Margot K Juby

These are the flour silos for Jackson's bakery near Spring Bank. If you like the smell of baking bread then you should hang around this spot as there's often a yummy yeasty  aroma to the air. Mind you that is the best part of Jackson's bread which is, like most factory made stuff, tasteless industrial rubber fit only to be thrown to the ducks.

Fool me once ...

I must admit when I first saw this glove I thought someone had left it behind that is until I tried to pick it up. It's made of iron and welded to the arm of the bench. This is in Beverley, the town that brings you hanging jerkins and jester's caps as part of its tourist trail.

The weekend in black and white is here.

Rainbow of sorts

For some reason my camera doesn't do rainbows so well. They turn out pale almost invisible. This is easily the best I've managed. If there's any truth in there being a pot of gold at the end of these things then I know just where to dig.

Yet more trees

Working on the principle that you can't have too many trees here's some more of the mile long stretch of plane trees on Cottingham Road. This bunch are by the entrance to the University. Plane trees are credited with cleaning up air pollutants which get  trapped in the bark which is then shed on the ground. They also shed fine leaf hairs during the Summer which some (that would be me) find irritating causing sneezing.