Blue Bridge

Run out of interesting pictures so here's a boring blue bridge to be going on with. It's Cottingham station and that's the Hull train.

As Advertised

This couple of buskers on Whitefriargate the other day were actually not bad. The guy on the left had a mighty voice on him. I saw someone give them money, practically unheard of in Hull.

Dull Day in Bridlington

Anyone taking a seat overlooking Bridlington's harbour is going to be met by one of these guys. There are signs saying they can be agressive and they should not be fed but I've never had any trouble and they will sit patiently while you focus your camera on them.

It was a particularly dull and foggy day in Brid so I pointed my camera at the birds. The above is a Herring Gull probably in its second year judging by the speckled head which mature birds don't have. 

These are Lesser Blackbacked gulls on the beach.... 

These are two Turnstones having a wash.

This little starling sat about two feet away so I barely had time to focus.

R38 Disaster Memorial

You'll no doubt have heard of the Hindenberg disaster in which 35 were killed when a hydrogen filled airship caught fire onlanding in New Jersey; I doubt you'll have much awareness of a similar disaster sixteen years earlier that claimed even more lives in the skies near Hull. On August 23^rd 1921 an R38 airship was completing its trials from Howden, when it broke up and crashed into the Humber near Hull's Victoria Pier claiming 44 lives and putting the brakes on the British airship industry. This memorial in the Western Cemetery has two plaques one for the British and one for the US aircrew. Several crew members are interred beneath this memorial.

There similar posts over at Taphophile Tragics.

Under the Beech

So to Beverley Westwood in search of some Autumn colour. Surprisingly most trees were still mainly green and to make matters worse the sky was overcast and dull. So I had to make do with this massive beech.

Sensory Garden

Tucked away on North Bar Within, Beverley is the Coronation Garden. It was formerly the burial ground of St Mary's church across the street and the gravestones still line the edge of the gardens. At the western end a 'Sensory Garden' has been planted where, to quote a nearby sign, "the scent of aromatic plants, shrubs and trees, the stir of the leaves and grasses in the wind, the particular range of colours and textures, the sound and touch of water, all conmbine to make a varied appeal to the senses." I don't know that I'd go that far but it's a nice enough little garden. The garden was created in 2005 and the local paper has news of further extensions and improvements including fixing the fountain which wasn't working when I was there.

I found a brief history of Coronation gardens online here.

Supermarket Forces

There was a livestock market in Beverley from the mid 19th century until 2001. At one time it was the biggest pig market in the country (East Yorkshire is big on pigs). Despite this it became unprofitable and Beverley Corporation sold it off. It continued to decline and eventually was closed; the site was cleared and sold to another sort of market, a supermarket.  This plaque commemorates the market and is by the entrance to Tesco's emporium on New Walkergate.