An Ugly Duckling

Well here's a rare sighting. What a mute swan? Rare? Well yes when it's in Pearson Park duck pond. In thirty odd years I've only seen about three swans in this postage stamp sized watering hole. I suppose all the trees and bushes must make landing and take off a difficulty plus I'm told it needs a good sixty yards to get really airborne and clear of obstacles. This one still had some brownish plumage suggesting it's a young bird and so was unaware of the perils of Pearson Park.

And while on an avian theme; the regular summer visiting swifts that should be here by now have failed to appear. Across England sightings are down by as much as 25%.  The globe, it seems, isn't working any more. The blue skies are a very dull and sterile place without them.

Death Fetish

After the first death, there is no other.

So here we have the latest alleged memorial to folk who died in unfortunate circumstances; this time it's death by bombs falling on their houses during the last European Civil War or WW2 as you may call it. It's an odd thing when all said and done and covered with the names of those who died over the years as Hull was just a dumping ground for bombers going home. There's a litany of woes behind all this and it's true that 95% of Hull houses were damaged in some way during the conflict and you can still see gaps in terraces that have not been filled in not to mention the cinema on Beverley Road that still awaits demolition. But the dead were buried seventy or more years ago and their graves are well known. So why now this desire to pick at old wounds, to 'honour' the dead? Who now, living, is benefiting from this visual abomination? Well this vile object was paid for by public subscription, organised by the Hull People's Memorial, an organisation devoted to reminding folk how people died in war and don't you ever dare to forget that Hull was bombed more than any other place than London or Malta; who claims that Hull's memory is fading this despite their being no fewer than 46 memorials listed on their website. And if we forget they would, no doubt,  cease to have a purpose in their lives. I choose to forget.

Knitting Bee

The neighbourhood knitters of Newland Avenue have been at it again this time on the theme of bees. I wouldn't fancy being stung by a brute this size. Any hoo, it's World Bee Day today so I guess this fits in with all that. I'll buzz off now.

Lots Of Love

Someone clearly needed to write a quick memo to remind themselves of the meaning of this ubiquitous acronym and I think we can admire the almost Chaucerian spelling. It may, for all we know, have been the former Prime Minister, Mr Cameron, who thought LOL meant Lots of Love, no seriously he did ...

May Day brings a new theme: "Laugh" to the City Daily Photo folk why not go on over there and crack your face...

Fritillaria imperialis

Or Crown Imperial Fritillary ... it's a native of Turkey, western Iran and Kashmir so I'm told. It doesn't seem to mind the grounds of Hull University that much.

Margot took this little beauty.

Oblique Cut Through

The walls of this old outhouse run not at right angles to the street it's on but to the road behind giving an odd effect. This is Duesberry Street, not the sort place an innocent visitor to Hull would or should wander down by choice; it once led to a railway line that's now a foot/cyclepath. It's a short cut through to Beverley Road from Princes Avenue, the  haunt of ne'er-do-wells and worse much like this blog which has been cutting through stuff at odd angles on and off for eight years now.

Thirst quencher

It's been a bit of dry spell for this blog;  here's a little something to be going on with. It seems the new fashion is to disparage plastic bottles and the lovely sugary confections that they contain. Folk are having their colas, fruit drinks and lemonades taxed or replaced with vile artificially sweetened substitutes (all for their own good you understand, adult choice having been outsourced to  HMRC) and being led by the nose (and other sensitive parts) to drink water from their recycled plastic bottles. So in keeping with this nagging and nannying the local water company have splashed out on this fountain on King Edward Street and a couple of other places. Of course it cannot just be a simple drinking fountain it has to be an oasis with attendant sculptures (I believe that was the word used). It all brings to my mind a saying of my long departed mother: " Water only made one man and the wind blew him over" ...