We can't stay in Tuesday Market Place forever as there's lots more to see but before leaving there's just time to show this quirky installation. It called an archilens, there's apparently two of them though to be honest I only saw this one. (The other is by the Ouse and is just about visible in the middle of this picture. I did not notice until I read up about it) It's pretty clear what it is and what it does ("Glass panels with inlaid magnifying lenses ... which
distort and change the images of the Tuesday Market Place and the Ouse,
producing new and exciting views.") so I won't go on.
And before we bid a final farewell to Tuesday Market Place a word about this
space which serves as a car park for most of the time but from
Valentine's Day each year this place is given over to the King's Lynn Mart, a two
week funfair which "pulsates with the sound of loud music, screaming
youngsters and whirling machines". This is the first fair in the
showmen's guild calendar (Hull Fair
is the last). This year was the 814th fair and they don't look as if
they're going to stop any time soon. Being in February, Mart weather has
entered into the local vocabulary as shorthand for nithering with showers of sleet
and snow, Hull Fair weather used to be similar (cold, wet and autumnal) but
recently climate changes have meant Hull Fair is balmy, almost muggy
(Ew!!). Finally , finally there may even be a market held here on Tuesday's ... who knows; I was here on a Saturday.
