Can we have our bees back, please?

Someone armed with a stencil and a can of yellow paint is decorating the neighbourhood with these bees which is all well and good except there seems to more of these than the real buzzing little critters. OK maybe I exaggerate but I'm seeing far fewer than in past years. Anyhow there's a survey going on over at the Great British Bee Count to find out what's going on. Right I'll buzz off and leave you with that...

The White House

It's coming to something when a conversion of a pair of old railway cottages to a taxi office is looked on as some sort of 'good' thing. This newly painted up pair were destined to be converted into yet another restaurant to go along with the dozen or so others on Princes Avenue. A steel and glass extension was to have been clagged onto the side to "combine the best features of the period dwellings with high quality, sustainable design" (judge for yourself  here). The owners now feel there is "an over-provision of restaurants in the area" oh really? Surely not ...

Silly Cow

On Princes Avenue

Probably best to say as little as possible about this ...

Unfortunate

For twenty years or so (1840-1860) Hull had a zoo and in that zoo for a few weeks in 1860 there was a White Nile hippopotamus by the name of Bucheet, the first hippo in England outside of London. Now Bucheet means 'fortunate' in Arabic but I reckon this poor chap's life was far from that, being captured as a calf, transported in poor conditions half way round the world, exhibited in zoos in England before being shipped off to America and ending his days in Canada as a circus show piece, "G. C. Quick's Colossal Hippopotamus."! Even after death he was stuffed and exhibited. What we have here at the end of Albany Street is a marble statue of poor old Bucheet. It's part of a small zoological trail in the neighbourhood, there are bears at the other end of the street.

If hippos are your thing then Virtual Hippo World might be of interest to you.

A Taste of Full Flava

Out for a walk on Saturday when the sound of amplified voices drifted out of Pearson Park; it was the the Full Flava Festival transforming the small park into an arena of music and dancing and general good fun. The volume near the stage was such as to set your mesentery vibrating but if you didn't stand too close it was tolerable and there were plenty of other attractions as well.

Queenie was sure to do a mean hip-hop when no-one was looking.

Sunny Reflections

Quite what anyone working behind this office window thought of me as I lined up this shot I can only imagine. Maybe they get quite a few eejits attracted by the grand reflections and I'm just latest in a long line ... ideally this picture needs to be taken by a pencil slim person and not one with an ever thickening girth but what can you do?

Weekend Reflections are at the end of this link, here.

Take a pew

While in Holy Trinity the other day I took the opportunity to photograph some of the carved pew ends for which the place is well known. These may look medieval but were actually carved in the 1840's during restoration work on the church. They are the work of George Henry Peck a man, seemingly, of many talents, painter, carver, art dealer, art entrepreneur and musician who is possibly better known (if at all) in Australia than in Hull.