Simply add water

The river Hull in these parts is basically an extension of the North Sea and as such is subject to the same tidal ups and downs. Which means if you don't much like being stuck on the the muddy banks then wait a while and a soothing, reflective brown influx will gently lift you up. 

Weekend Reflections are here.

Delights of Dovedale

There I was idly going through the curate's egg that is Twitter when I came upon the postcard from the past (@PastPostcard) titled Delights of Dovedale. Dovedale? The name rang a bell, where had I heard it before? Turns out Dovedale is a National Trust owned valley in Derbyshire noted for its Peak District scenery and the hundreds of  thousands of tourists who flock there each year.  But that wasn't where I 'd seen the name ... Our delightful Dovedale is a not so pretty large barge that spends a great deal of time just tied up, slowly rusting on the Hull mud. As far as I know it's not noted for anything much other than being posted in this blog a while back. Maybe if it stays there long enough the National Trust will take it over.

An old stick-in-the-mud

I posted quite recently about the removal of this old trawler, the Arctic Corsair, from this site to a place upstream. I told a sorry tale of delays and inactivity. Well a new firm date has been announced for the departure, Sunday August 4. This picture was taken three weeks ago and I can see (even if you can't)  that some of the silty gunge has been shifted from the rear end (or stern for those like to go messing about on the river). I'm told this vessel has no engines so two tugs will pull it away and off to Alexandra Dock while the old dry docks where it is to be put on display are cleared and renovated for the return. As it has been sitting in the mud here for twenty years or so it is to be hoped all goes well. It will leave a bit of gap that the river will no doubt fill with glorious mud.

The weekend in black and white is here.

The turtle does not cook the snake

Well here we are in Hull and that's the river Hull and that old barge has a hull ... so the title obviously had to have hull in it somewhere ... so I'll let you make up your own. Mine is inspired by  completing 21 days of a Duolingo Italian course ...it's full of useful phrases like  la marmaletta non ha un gusto dolce  and "the dog eats an ant" or  "il cuoco cucina un serpente"!. It is all very repetitive and has addled the brain somewhat and that combined with some warm weather ... lo squalo legge i giornali ... Ciao! a domani!

Tide has transfigured them into Untruth.

.... What will survive of us is mud.
 

(With apologies to Mr Larkin)

Inevitable Alignment

Let me see now the church, St Mary's on Lowgate has been there since the 15^th century, Holy Trinity which is just peeking out from behind there has been bothering the almighty since the 13^th century; the domed law courts I'm guessing sometime in the 1990s, the entrance to the old Queen's Dock since 1775 or thereabouts and that crane (or scotch derrick crane) is hardly new. And I've been in or around Hull some 37 or so years ... so  sooner or later this alignment was bound to happen, wasn't it? The odd thing is that it didn't happen earlier when I posted this.


The weekend in black and white will align itself here at some time in the near future.

A case of the s'pose'das

Last year I read that this old trawler, the Arctic Corsair, was supposed to be moved from here next to the museum of streetstrife and transports of delight, where it has been since 1998, eventually to one of the ancient dry docks upstream. The move was supposed to allow for flood defence work to be carried. Then I read, that the boat was supposed to be moved last October on the equinoctial high tides. Well, that did not happen. I read that a bunch of regulations and paper work were supposed to in place before that could even begin to happen. Also the silt was supposed to be washed away before they could move it. A new date for moving was set; supposed to be equinox in March this year... (and here we are in June which is supposed to be warmer than February but this year's weather has decided to do things arse over tit ...)

The old dry docks are, of course, silted up and the mud, I read, was supposed to be used to make building bricks. The work to clear the mud was reportedly delayed by a brood of ducklings which had no idea it was not supposed to be there (naturam expelles furca, tamen usque recurret...). As you can see the trawler and the old silt are still where they are (per omnia saecula saeculorum)... and the next equinox is supposed to be in October ... at least that's the supposed to date.

Preventing a Collapse of the Banks

That's river banks in case you were wondering. At long last work is under way to repair, fix and generally improve (upgrade could be the word I'm looking for) the riverside defences. Here the rig is on the stretch running along Tower Street but much work has already been completed upstream on Bankside and Wincolmlee  to the amusement of the many drivers who were unable to use that route as a short cut  ... It's a real big job and costs a mere £44 million but then you've  got to count the cost of losing bits of Hull to floods and the moaning and the groaning and the blaming and so on and so forth for ever and a day ... money well spent.

That river bank doesn't look too bad does it? But a few yards upstream it's much, much worse ...

The Weekend in Black and White will be here at the appropriate time.

Déjà vu in black and white

Surely, says meself to meself, I've shown a barge going up the river before and to be sure this very selfsame little boat, sorry ship, Swinderby, was posted way back when life was all so simple. And as is the way of things when you poke at them I find yet another barge doing the upstream adventure. In my defence I like the clouds and the mud in this picture ... and it was taken sometime back and if I don't post it now I never will.

I know it's only Wednesday but The Weekend in Black and White is here.

A piddling little stream

If you like mud then Hull could be just the place for you. When the tide is out there's acres of  thick oozing alluvium silting up the old harbour. I believe there are plans to clear out the gloop and improve the flow but then there's always plans for something or other in this place. It's at these times like this that you can see just what a small insignificant little stream the river Hull really is. 

 

You have it to do

It's a strange compulsion I know, a kind of reflection fetish ... Someone puts up a set of windows and you just have to see what reflections they give. So here's what you get from the office windows around the new dry dock stage. Below is what it looked like straight on. This is, of course, the penguin prison and fish farm a.k.a  the Deep.

Apologies for the grainy pictures, entirely my fault.

Weekend Reflections are here.

Bang a gong, get it on

In a way the idea of turning this useless bridge to nowhere into a musical instrument makes as much sense as an unlamented 70's pop hit with pastiche hippy lyrics (Well you're dirty and sweet Clad in Black. Don't look back And I love you ... I guess you had to be there and I wasn't!) So it will come to pass that "tuned" metal plates will be attached and struck in the manner of Indonesian gamelan and folk will invited to whack the bridge with a hammer to make "music". To quote the idiot in charge of the asylum "By Playing the Bridge, participants and audiences will form a new relationship with and think differently about a city landmark. It is also a fantastic opportunity to learn a new instrument and be part of an amazing City of Culture project." Nuff said!

Unique pile of bricks and old crane

I've shown this riverside building before. It used to be a buoy shed for Trinity House but it's been empty for a while and looks (as it always has) like it might just slide into the river any day. Any how it's up for sale so you can buy a piece of Hull that no-one can find a use for and get to play with that really rare swan neck crane; go on you know you want to.

"Shortened to whatever length you want ..."

Here's the tanker barge Dovedale H, built in 1962 and currently for sale (price on application) after many years on the Manchester ship canal. The seller/agent informs us that she is "waiting for survey and then being shortened to whatever length you want" and at nearly 46 metres she might just be a tad too much for messing about on the river.

Riverside rubble

I think we can say the old Clarence Mill is now gone, well it ain't coming back. But where did those nice trees spring from ...

Vestige

Last time I posted about the Clarence Mill it was half pulled down and well on its way to being a fully cleared site. Well you won't be at all surprised that nothing is ever so straight forward in this wonderful town. I'd already mentioned how slow the demolition was, well 'slow' turned into 'stopped altogether'. Shortly after I posted the contractors, who apparently hadn't been paid for some time, walked off the site and nothing happened for several months. A few weeks ago work started again and so we are down now to this stump and a huge pile of bricks. So what do you reckon? Another year before this place is finally cleared? Or maybe two?

The weekend in black and white is here.

Proof ...

...or at least good evidence that fish do not need bicycles.

Ice cream castles in the air

I've taken dozens of these shots down the Humber from this point or nearby. I post this one just because I liked that cloud and for no other reason.

Yet another sad tale

Four years ago to the day I  posted about a young man drowning in the river, well last December it seems it may have happened again. Another young man has disappeared after a night out. As his phone, clothes and shoes were found on the bank of the river it's thought he's somehow gotten into the water. So now there's a petition to erect railings on watersides near bars and pubs. As you see below there's nothing at all to stop someone falling in and those boards can get slippy in the rain. I can see no good reason not to fence off this particular area and with the City of Culture looming shortly there's likely to be an influx of unwary strangers staggering out of the nearby hostelries who might be wondering why their feet are wet ...

On the fence

I've shown bits of this sculptural fence before (here and here) so it's time for a full reveal as it were. It belongs to a warehouse-turned-apartment block that sits alongside the river. The little adornments represent trades and things related to Hull and hereabouts.

I had a root around in my old pictures as I knew I had more from this place and put together this little collection. So that's enough of that, I think, time to get off the fence and move on.

The weekend in black and white is here.