To Let on Paragon Street

I read a few weeks ago that there were supposed to be fewer vacant shops in Hull; well not as far as I can tell. More if anything. These are all in the space of less than fifty yards.

I had to smile when I saw the above was empty and to let. It's the old Jobcentre where Hull's unemployed had to sign on for their excessive benefits that ruined the country's economy if we are to believe the Chancellor of the Exchequer and why shouldn't we? (The Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, was recently rash enough to claim that he could live on £53 a week. Over 400,000 signed an online petition in two days demanding that he do just that. IDS then claimed that was a "stunt"; you can imagine how that went down in Twitzerland and other places.)

And here's fourth for good measure. Clearly there is great potential in Hull with lots of opportunities for small businesses to acquire premises. 

I'm having a monochrome moment if you want colour go watch TV.

In the red

Ah well, I guess it couldn't last. Here's the pub formerly known as the Fishbowl, Hockney's and also Aussie Beach all boarded up and for sale once again. Seems it failed to attract the students despite having staff dress up as goldfish during the first few days of term last year. Can't imagine why a gimmick like that didn't work. Are students becoming more discerning?

Anyway if you've got a quarter of a million sterling going spare and you fancy trying your hand in the licensed trade well  you can see who to contact in this photo. Be warned history has a nasty habit of repeating itself usually as farce.

So that's who it is ... the Goddess of Beauty

A couple of years ago I took this shot of an odd-shaped woman holding an apple and dropping what I took to be a tennis racket or perhaps a frying pan. It's part of a series of figures topping a wall by the riverside (I showed one earlier here). What could it be I wondered? The other figures seemed to represent trades and professions of Hull. Quite what this lady's profession might be I had not a clue (I lead a sheltered life) and various lewd suggestions from web-friends were hardly helpful. And there things would have remained had I not spent an afternoon going through recent photos. I found myself looking at exactly the same figure in a mosaic from the 3^rd century AD! Unclad lady, an apple and what turns out to be a mirror who else could it be but Venus the Goddess of Beauty. OK beauty comes in all shapes and sizes ...

The mosaic is the Rudston Venus mosaic which came from a large Roman villa in the village of Rudston just west of Bridlington. It is now safely ensconced in the Hull & East Riding Museum.

Do you feel lucky?

I suppose that having spent millions on new bus/rail station and a new shopping centre there was simply no money left to design a safe connection between the two. So everyday thousands must wait for the green man before making it safely from one side to the other. Of course, people being what they are, some decide to cross on the red man and play a Hull version of Russian roulette with the buses with predictable consequences.

City Daily Photo's theme for today is 'Pedestrians crossing': see what others have made of this here.

Monochrome Mill

I took a stroll on Beverley Westwood the other day, I don't think I'd been so cold all Winter and it's supposed to be Spring. Absolutely no blossom on any of the trees and no sign of leaves about to burst into life. The only thing moving was the strong Easterly wind that came all the way from Omsk or Tomsk or some such place. I got as far as the old black mill before admitting defeat and going home.

In what seems like a bad joke British Summer Time starts today, I can't imagine what I'm going to do with all that daylight that's being saved.

There's more monochrome fun at the Weekend in Black and White here.

Gewgaws

In these times of flailing austerity Beverley clearly has not been overly affected (see this post from two day ago). Money (between £22,000 to £80,000 depending on who you believe) has been found to renovate the Market Cross and the four shields that hang from it have been given a fresh coat of paint. The top two are Queen Anne's and Beverley town's shields. Bottom left is that of Sir Charles Hotham and bottom right is Sir Michael Warton MPs for Beverley who part paid for the cross in 1714. They could afford it; Charles Hotham had inherited vast estates and Michael Warton was reputed to be the richest man in England at the time.

Old Post Office

I guess when they closed the post office on Westwood Road in Beverley they forgot to take the sign down (they may need planning permission, it's that sort of area). So there it stays gently fading along with the memory of when the Royal Mail used to run a half decent service. Westwood Road, by the by, was once declared to have the most expensive houses in East Yorkshire; this is the cheaper end.