Loudest Just Before The Dawn

For reasons that need not detain us I was up and about at that time when the sun is thinking about poking its head above the horizon for yet another day. At this time all the birds of the land decide to see who can make the most noise, this is called by naturalists the dawn chorus though I suspect insomniacs have other less favourable names for it. If you've a mind to listen I recorded a few minutes of the local avian choir in full voice at 3.45am. This is just my neighbourhood imagine this spread across the whole country indeed continents ...(There were a couple of cars going by, you get them all over the country as well)

Secured

Always a good idea to lock up your bike and in this case your helmet as well. It is a tad disconcerting, however, to see a grand looking lock lying on the floor with no bicycle attached! This reminds me of a story my father told of his buying a really expensive lock and chain for his bike only to find the thieves took the lock and left his bike ....

All this and so much more ...

Here listed are some of the delights of St Stephens, "Hull's most stylish shopping destination". Here you can fill up on all sorts of franchised fodder before taking in a movie or maybe working off your calories in the gym. Oh and there shops as well selling, you know, stuff.

The wheels on the bus go round and round ...

I wouldn't want you to think I was one of those souls who take pictures of buses for pleasure, no sir, I took these for historical record only. Actually I was bored waiting for someone and well, you know, the devil, idle hands etc etc. So, the buses in Hull are for most part red and cream or blue and white, very occasionally  black and that's just about all I can say about buses, they're not really my thing, honest.

Lurkin' Toad

If you're taking a short cut through the cemetery and get that feeling of something not quite right it might just be that giant toad that you glimpsed out of the corner of your eye ...

The Weekend in Black and White is here.

Perfect timing

Followers of this blog with exceptional memories may recall a post involving the Bradford and Bingley building which, in 2012, had been empty since the crash of our esteemed banking sector way back in whenever. Well the building is still empty but some enterprising folks have pasted art works in the windows. So I took a position across the street to get my photo when this young man walked past just as, well, as you see...

Newland Homes

Way, way back in 1821 there was founded the Port of Hull Society for the Religious Instruction of Seamen originally to administer to the spiritual needs of sailors and their families but later also their welfare and educational wants and, more especially, the needs of  sailors' orphans. As demand grew a village of twelve 'cottage homes' (each named after one of the rich sponsors who had clearly not read Matthew 6:3!) was built in and around 1897 on  Cottingham Road and housed at one time 360 children. It had its own school and sanatorium. As the years rolled by with welcome changes in child care fewer and fewer children were being placed in  these homes and they were sold off in 2004 leaving only the school still running. There is an excellent history of all this here.

The homes were originally built with yellow bricks which over the years thanks to coal fires and so on  have become mucky, for want of a better word. When new buildings were erected nearby, they too had to be of yellow brick and they don't half stand out.