Beehive

This ornate carving is over the doorway of a former bank on Silver Street. The beehive, a symbol of industry, was the sign of Lloyds bank until 1884 when Lloyds took over a bank called Barnett, Hoares & Co who had a black horse as their sign. Lloyds kept the black horse sign as its symbol (which you can just about see in this post here). I much prefer the beehive.

The Weekend in Black & White is here.

Rusty

In need of a bit of restoration is this plaque on the Drypool Bridge. The date 1888 refers to the opening of an older swing bridge which bore this plaque and which was replaced in the 1960's by the current bridge[ 1  2].

Congratulations to all those graduates

Well it's that time of year again: Graduation Day. A day for dressing up, hiring the gowns from Ede & Ravenscroft and parading round town wearing a silly hat with your ever so proud parents. And, well, why not?

and dad can dress up too!

The guy in green is Michael Wood, a world champion town crier no less, possessed of an exceedingly loud and powerful voice.

They never had music in my day, mind you I didn't go to Hull University, my loss I suppose. Here a quartet played some baroque and roll and were ignored by all.

Poppies

Usually the Council are zealous in their extermination of weeds, sending out a small army of  workers with tanks of weed killer spraying every nook and cranny. Whether it's austerity or just plain bad management (at which the Council excels) this year there seem to be more wild flowers in unexpected places. I'm not complaining.

Spiral Path

This spiral ramp takes you up to the east side of Myton Bridge or down to the east bank of the river depends which way you want to look at it.

Twowheels

Here's a pretty sight to cheer you up on a Monday morning. Another boarded up shop, victim not of this recession but of some long forgotten down turn about twenty years ago. The building's odd appearance ( it was clearly part of a terrace) is no doubt due to high explosives dropped by some passing German in May 1941 demolishing the neighbours and creating space many years later for a police station where our hard working constables can make themselves a brew and put their feet up.

The Tenth Circle

Of Hell that is. Cottingham Day on a hot Saturday in July with thousands milling around like the living dead gawping at this and that and nothing in particular. And it was like Groundhog Day all over again exactly the same as last year and the year before that, vintage cars here, motocycle display there, hot and tired looking birds of prey display over there, an aged rock and roll show on the Green, art and crafts in the Derby and Jones Hall (try to look interested) and so on and so on. So nothing new to show for it all save this oddly placed mannequin advertising ice cream. I won't be going next year I've seen it all before. Still Snuff Mill Lane on the way home was looking at its Summer best