Put a little sparkle in your life

It was Bonfire Night, Guy Fawkes Day or whatever you want to call it. Somehow, I don't quite know how to describe this, there seemed no enthusiasm for this ritual waste of money. I blame the last government's prissy stupid fireworks laws finally killing off a four hundred year tradition of stupidity and daftness that lead to many injuries and so on but there was a satisfying cleansing of the air. It's amazing what the smell of spent gunpowder can do to a neighbourhood. Now only those with money to burn can afford to celebrate a so-called terrorist's failure. Me, I've got a packet of sparklers from 2007 to burn...

The Bumblebee Phone Box

OK the deal here is that the local phone company have painted a phone box outside their HQ black and yellow and adorned it with antennae to look like a bee. This is to honour a local lady, 91 year old Jean Bishop, who has been collecting for charity for as long as anyone can remember always dressed as a bumblebee. The box was unveiled in mid-October and I took this picture a day later by which time the antennae had been broken off and stolen. It's sometimes hard not to develop a Manichean outlook ....

All Saints' Day

A church tower is a beacon to direct the faithful to the house of God; it is a badge of ecclesiastical authority, and it is the place from whence the heralds of the solemnities of the church, the bells, send forth the summons. Let no one imagine that a tower is a superfluous expense, it forms an essential part of the building, and should always be provided in the plan of a parochial church.

Augustus Welby Pugin

I thought there had to be a reason for these things that pepper the countryside, there I was thinking they built them for the view. But then again this is Pugin speaking and he was a distinctly odd fellow. Here's the tower of All Saints church in Driffield built around 1450. As I mentioned earlier the church was revamped by Gilbert Scott in the 1880's when eight additions were made to the tower, not to everyone's delight. The church's own website says of them "The eight pinnacles at the top, 110 feet from the ground, also elaborately panelled, are somewhat unsatisfactory and heavy in appearance:...which gave them a distinctly debased type of crocket decoration". Still it's an impressive pile of stones for all that.

Today, the feast of All Saints (somehow I don't think that'll ever include me), is also City Daily Photo's theme day with the subject 'Heights'. See what others have got up to here.

But what's all this in East Park?

As if the good folks of Hull haven't just had a whole week of fun fairs another mini-fair springs up on my favourite tree lined avenue. Something to do with Hallowe'en and all that jazz no doubt. Well it was only a tiny part of the park used up so I suppose I mustn't grumble much.

The word tacky seems the most accurate description of  fun fairs.

I thought this land train was particularly tasteful.

Autumn in East Park

I don't have much attraction to east Hull, it's a fairly bleak and dismal place with few attractions. But it does have East Park and at this time of year with the sun heading down it's a most pleasant place.

Driffield Navigation

No visit to Driffield would be complete without a quick check that the canal is still there. You never know they might have sold it off to some sovereign wealth fund along with every other asset in this country.

Gargoyles

Driffield's ancient All Saints Church has a fine selection of small family friendly gargoyles. Here's a couple of the cutest. These look to be in remarkably good condition and I suspect they may be modern (when I say modern I mean Victorian) replacements as the church was extensively restored by Gilbert Scott in the late 1870's.