This old house is falling down

This Victorian relic at the corner of Wellington Street and Queen Street is set to be pulled down as it is structurally unsound and can't be fixed. This rather dull building's sole claim to fame, if that is the word, is that it was designed by Cuthbert Brodrick who also designed Leeds Town Hall and the Grand Hotel in Scarborough. I suppose this was just a bit of practice. There were rumours that it would be rebuilt but frankly I can't see why it should be however these are strange times in the city of infinite culture.

Summer Daze

Deep Brown Mud

Here's the local penguin farm and fish tank reflected in some glorious mud with yours truly in the shadows.

Artlink

Artlink seems to have been going for as long as I've been living in these parts. It's a sort of community arts thing with a gallery in what was part of the methodist church on Princes Avenue. I'm not much taken with the idea of community art (the two words just don't sit together for me) and I have not set foot in the place. I did read recently they got some money from whoever doles out the stuff these days so they'll be happy for the time being and nicely set up for the culture fest that arrives in two and half years time.

Art work with arty symbols

Arty gates

Hull Rickshaw

Seems to be the year for novel ways of  getting around the city and seeing the sights. I told you about the land train a few weeks back now we have a rickshaw to carry you about by foot power. The guy in the shades, Neil Worner, is in charge of this little project, he used to drive a white van now he pedals passengers around town and the Avenues area. It sounds like a nice idea but I expect if you're stuck in the tailback behind him you might have other ideas. I've seen a promo video he made and can only say that shy and introverted are not words that spring to mind. You wanna see? It's here.

Just noticed the England flag, must have taken this during the World Cup, you remember the World Cup? Me neither.

Lockington Memorial

I took this sometime ago but today seems the most appropriate day to post it. The Lockington rail crash on this day in 1986 left eight rail passengers and the passenger of a car dead and a lot of questions to be answered about the installation of automatic open crossings with no barriers. This memorial in Driffield's North End Park was paid for by public donations and erected twenty-four years after the accident.

You can read the official report into the accident here.

Monumental Memorial Madness

Way back in 1935 this thing (well, it is an ugly, phallic monstrosity when all said and done) was rightly considered to be a nuisance and a hazard to traffic and so Hull City Council spent £1,500 moving it from the end of Whitefriargate to the eastern end of Queens Gardens ( see here ). There it stands out of everyone's way, a focal point, if you like, for the view along the gardens. And there you might think it would stay but you would have reckoned without the all pervading madness that has overcome the City of Culture. The recently announced city facelift that I mentioned some days back includes, if  funds from the National Lottery can be found, a plan to put this darn thing back where it was. I am put in mind of the rearrangement of deckchairs on the Titanic ... oh, the cost, I forgot to mention the cost, well multiply the old cost by a thousand and you have it.