Bit of birdwatching

This time of year East Park lake becomes the home for about twenty or so goosanders and every year I go along to take some pictures. And every year they stay just too far away for anything you might like to call a decent shot. (Yeah, I know, invest in a bigger lens ...) So I turn to the never knowingly shy black-headed gulls for my picture of the day. Below the best I could manage of those darn ducks.

Art Deceaux

JC Deceaux claim to be one of the world's leading outdoor advertising companies and with 1,013,500 advertising panels in more than 55 countries I couldn't possibly dispute that. In Hull the company has the exclusive contract to supply bus stops and also some "eye catching columns in the heart of the city's pedestrianised retail centre" (not my words!). Tesco, obviously think it's worth while to flaunt its wares for our delectation but then again that might have something to do with their profits falling for the first time in 18 years.

The old horse wash

This ramp down to the Humber was used to wash horses. Now you can see how rich and brown the Humber is so I wonder just how clean the horses were after their ablutions but maybe the idea was just to cool them off after their hard labour. I found an old image of the 'oss wash (as the natives call it) in action here. Seems to have been a fair number of gawpers in those days before daytime TV.

Red Fred

The lock-keeper's cottage at Hull Marina has been taken over by a design and marketing consultancy, well, ok, a PR firm called Fred, it's as good a name as any I suppose.

Ghost hotel

On the corner of Queen and Wellington Street, the building known as Wellington House has been boarded up and depictions of life from a bygone age have been posted on those boards I suppose to stop graffiti artists. This expansive lithograph is deceptive in that it does not show the buildings opposite the hotel. Glover's hotel was on the same street as the Oberon I showed a few days ago; it's now long gone and only a seedy pub is on that site.

“Nothing happens. Nobody comes, nobody goes. It's awful.”

And still we wait for the bridge to open.... Promised in September to open in October and here we are mid-November. What do we do now? Wait ....

Hull's one and only anchor

On High Street just past the Myton Bridge and adjacent to the Icefish I showed yesterday is this impressive black anchor. There's no sign as to where it came from and I can find nothing via our mutual friend Google. It seems sturdy enough but as the old saying goes it is best to trust to two anchors.