Saturday 16 October 2010

Industry in Hull

This is the Croda chemical works a mile or so upstream from the mouth of the Hull. It was from a lab on this site that Lorenzo's Oil was developed. The plant is essential a massive distillation unit separating oils from crushed seeds. A couple of years ago they put up a massive wind turbine which I showed you here.


These pictures were taken by Margot Juby which explains why they're better than I usually post. 

Friday 15 October 2010

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Decomposed on Myton Bridge

Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
  A sight so touching in its majesty...
 
Well, maybe not.
In June I showed you the construction of the bridge across the river; since when very little seems to have been done so we await developments here.The buildings on the left form part of the Museum Quarter which I admit I haven't been to in all the years I've lived here. The trawler parked up on the mud is the Arctic Corsair which is also a museum piece. There's more about that here. Towards the centre the dark brown tower is, or was until recently, a flour mill, the Clarence Flour Mill. There are some stunning shots of the mill here. This building is due to be demolished to make way for something or other, a hotel, I believe, but I'm not really that interested. Poking out from behind the mill is the Shotwell factory. If you've fired a shotgun chances are the cartridge came from here, they trade under the name Gamebore. The right bank is due for development but kindly don't hold your breath.
As you can see not much is going on here, I know it's low tide but there's only one barge tied up and no activity at all, the river as a working entity seems to have pretty much died. The only thing moving is the river and the only business now seems to be gazing at our collective past with far too many museums to be healthy.

...The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Market Place, Hull


A visitor to Hull might justifiably be confused that this is called Market Place when there hasn't been a market here for many, many years. This picture shows one of Hull's most visited buildings; no it's not the big church nor yet the pub selling real ale; it's the undistinguished building in the middle: the Jobcentre. The gilded item in the foreground I featured earlier here. This picture taken at 3pm on a Monday shows what a thriving metropolis downtown Hull really is; you can barely move for all the ghosts ....

Saturday 9 October 2010

Old Crane, Driffield

Took a little trip out to Driffield the other day. It was an unseasonably warm day; as you can see Autumn has barely affected these trees. I've posted some more photos here.

Wednesday 6 October 2010

Snuff Mill Lane, Cottingham


A tobacconist used to run a snuff making factory close by this building hence the name of the lane. The lane also provides a short cut from my house to Cottingham village shops so I often go by here.

Tuesday 5 October 2010

Snakebite

Strange, I thought, no-one was bothered that a snake was twisted round a street light in the centre of town. They just got on with their business as if it were perfectly normal to have a serpent in their midst.... But then they knew it was part of the Beverley Town Trail depicting the various Guilds and trades of Mediaeval Beverley. Snakes apparently were the symbol of the barbers who had to perform surgery since the clergy were banned from making cuts, this job is now performed by Conservative ministers.

Monday 4 October 2010

City Hall, Hull


English Heritage has a detailed record of this building; a sample of the lengths to which they go is as follows: "Above the dentillated cornice, a copper dome with an open domed cupola and finial. Below, a Doric porte-cochere with pair of square columns at the corners and a balustraded balcony. Central revolving door flanked by panelled square columns, and beyond, pairs of glazed doors, all with overlights. On either side, a round-headed niche with a life-size figure sculpture." They say a picture paints a thousand words .... 

Sunday 3 October 2010

Best Park?

East Park has been named the best park in Yorkshire. It is the first time a park in Hull has won the award, which is given out by Yorkshire In Bloom. East Park is now a desert given over to "recreations", I hope they are all so happy with the "award"
Swanboats or swans;  ...you can't have both.
Community washing in East Park ....

Saturday 2 October 2010

Green shadows


It's been a really horrible day for the start of October so I thought a bit of Summerish sunshine on Beverley Westwood might cheer things up a little. 

Friday 1 October 2010

Bridge over Barmston Drain, Sculcoates Lane,

This "art work" has been here so long it's faded.
The drain is so choked with weeds that even ducks cannot swim in it which is a bit worrying when you think that this is part of Hull's flood defenses. The new housing in the background is on the site of the Needler's sweet factory; when it was working the smells around here were fantastic.

The theme day topic for City Daily Photo is graffiti. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Thursday 30 September 2010

Small Tortoiseshell


There's been hardly any of these beauties around where I live this year; this picture was taken a couple of years ago. The small tortoiseshell is one of the commonest butterflies in the UK so I expect they'll be back in numbers sometime. 

Wednesday 29 September 2010

Stop stój стой .....

Traffic comes to a halt when this burly bobby  raises his hand. No emergency just a small and colourful procession of immigrant societies down Newland Avenue, Hull earlier this year. The area around here is much favoured by immigrants and foreign students. You're just as likely to hear Polish, Chinese or some other language as native Hull version of English. 


The building above used to be a primary school, it had children from so many different countries it was known affectionately as the League of Nations. 



Tuesday 28 September 2010

All Dried Out


Above the lake in the Dene, Cottingham taken in April this year; below the same site taken last week. Has it really been that dry this Summer? I hope it fills up again over the next few months. 


Monday 27 September 2010

Sunday 26 September 2010

One Hull


Pictured earlier this year, the yacht One Hull is quite a controversial item in these parts. NHS Hull the primary health care trust for the area "invested" £400,000 in a yacht in the belief this purchase would improve standards of public health in the area, which included the constituency of the then Health Secretary, Alan Johnson.
The plan involved other local wastes of public money such as One Hull and Cat Zero taking young wastrels who would otherwise have spent their time enjoying themselves doing whatever young thugs do and, instead of incarcerating them for a long time, putting them on this boat for so many weeks to "mobilise"  and "help them to maximise their potential". Clearly  it's a prize cruise for deliquency; decent law abiding young people need not apply. Quite how it improves public health escapes me.
All this was before the recent election and subsequent "deficit reduction measures". Personally I think its one of the craziest of a long series of crazy ideas for dealing with unacceptable behaviour in young people. The Chancellor's shiny new axe could usefully chop this scheme down to size.

Saturday 25 September 2010

Who put the monkey in the monkey puzzle tree?

 
 This is a fine young specimen of  Araucaria araucana on Westwood Road, Beverley, I hope the people who live in this house realise that it will grow to 40m/130ft and live for 1000 years. To quote Wikipedia: "The origin of the popular English name Monkey-puzzle derives from its early cultivation in Britain in about 1850, when the species was still very rare in gardens and not widely known. The proud owner of a young specimen at Pencarrow garden near Bodmin in Cornwall was showing it to a group of friends, and one made the remark "It would puzzle a monkey to climb that"; as the species had no existing popular name, first 'monkey-puzzler', then 'monkey-puzzle' stuck."
I think I prefer the French  "désespoir des singes" or "monkeys' despair".
It's said by some that the devil sits in this tree (clearly he's not a monkey) and so you have to be quiet when passing these trees lest you attract the old Nick's attention and he gives you bad luck. You have been warned.

Friday 24 September 2010

East

Above, the flood protection barrier which I've pictured before and the view stretching along the north bank of the Humber  towards the village of Paull. Below, the varied roof tops, old and new, of the old town; the horizon has the cranes of the King George Dock and the cooling towers of the Saltend chemical works.

 

Thursday 23 September 2010

West


West towards Anlaby Road and its architectural delights. That these high rise flats were (and still are) considered a great improvement when they were built is testament to the horrors that went before.

Wednesday 22 September 2010

South


Looking south over the Marina and the redeveloped dockside. The road is Castle Street, often busy, regularly snarled up and scheduled for a serious rethink except there's no money. The horizon shows where sky and Lincolnshire and water meet.

Tuesday 21 September 2010

Sudden elegancies


This is the view across Queen Victoria Square from Princes Quay's multi-storey car park. I knew there had to be a good use for those motor car crèches.

Monday 20 September 2010

Newbegin, Beverley


This imposing Georgian town house was built in the mid 18th century. Naturally its a Grade2 listed building. If you fancy living here you can, sort of. It's Bed & Breakfast albeit a 4 star B&B. 


Sunday 19 September 2010

Dryad's saddle Polyporus squamosus

 
On a walk through Beverley Westwood I came across this fine specimen on a stump of a tree that had been felled in early Spring. It's called Dryad's Saddle after the wood nymph, apparently it's edible but has an extremely tough texture. It's not particularly rare and I've seen a few before but none as good as this.

Saturday 18 September 2010

Pearson Park, Hull

 There's a vogue nowadays for philanthropic intervention in public affairs. This is not a new thing, in 1860 Zacchariah Charles Pearson donated a few acres of land in west Hull for a public park. Good for him you say; well up to a point. You see he kept a ring of land surrounding the park for his own speculative building venture and got the people of Hull to pay for a park in the middle. His business and political acumen left him when he led a doomed venture trying to run guns and ammunition to the Confederacy in the US civil war; he lost everything and ended his days practically penniless in a house on Pearson Park. I have a vague memory of some Confederate followers tracing down his grave in Springbank cemetery and renovating it, but that may just be my mind going.
The top picture shows the lake and a Victorian hothouse/conservatory which has a few fishes in tanks and some birds in cages. The colourful blob on the right is, I'm afraid, yet another toad. Below is a detail of the obelisk memorial to old Zacc.

 

Friday 17 September 2010

Pigeon Post

 

Behold the fastest way of transferring data in East Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire. In a stunt designed to point out the slow speed of rural broadband a race was held to send a video file from Beverley to Lincolnshire using Youtube and a pigeon. Needless to say the bird won. Read about it here.
I read today that some ridiculous religious twit had the temerity to label England a third world country, what could he possibly mean?   Also I've just heard that the head honcho of  this same cult claims atheists are Nazis. So now I'm a Nazi atheist living in a third world country. Could be worse I suppose....

Thursday 16 September 2010

The Mash"


This is the former Hull Brewery building now taken over by a company that provides "a full suite of Debt Management Services ranging from complete outsource solutions to collections, recoveries and trace". I won't tell you their name; they haven't paid me. 

Wednesday 15 September 2010

Some Seaside Amusements


This little den of iniquity goes by the name of Taylor Made Amusements, I kid you not.



The end of season means no customers for the dodgems. 



The Twister tries to put your breakfast in the North Sea


This train takes lazy passengers along the sea front; it's so much better to walk. 

Monday 13 September 2010

Humber Bridge


This is the north tower; it's a mere 510 feet tall. For people who admire engineering there's a wealth of truly fascinating detail here.

Sunday 12 September 2010

Humber Bridge

 


You can walk or ride a bicycle across this wonderful bridge at no charge. It will cost you £2.70 to take a car across. I don't drive so I wouldn't know how far you would get with £2.70 worth of petrol but I'd guess it's nowhere near the 40 or so miles you'd have to drive if the bridge wasn't there. Lorries and buses pay even more. The whole toll issue is local hot political issue and many promises were made before the last election which have yet to come to pass. It's plain that abolishing the tolls would increase traffic and economic activity; on the other hand the Government would be writing off over £300 million, I can't see the present regime doing that. The loan was apparently underwritten by Hull City Council so council taxpayers in that city could ultimately have to foot the bill if the Bridge Board defaults on its repayments.