The Leaning Stylite of Hull

Here as promised sometime ago is the man threatening to leap into the Humber. It's part of a pair of statues linking Hull's fishing history with Iceland; the other statue is in Vik, Iceland. There's more about all this nonsense here. I note that the Icelandic version (called For) is cast in aluminium and is untarnished; the Hull one(named Voyage) is in brass and has turned green, possibly with envy that Iceland still has a fishing industry and Hull doesn't.

Drypool Bridge

Shutters

Spring is sprung, De grass is riz ....

Clearly here's a chap who is not going to let the grass grow under his feet. The council seem to be obsessive about  grass; maybe this is one  area that could be cut back.

The new building in the background is intended to be a hotel for all you eager visitors to this town. Looks just yummy doesn't it?

Rainbow-Friargate

Whitefriargate is the scene of a colourful installation by  Hsiao-Chi Tsai & Kimiya Yoshikawa inspired by "the seaport character of Hull". It's the latest in a series of exhibits using the empty shops and spaces of the street; really it's an effort to get people to visit this end of town. There's a bit more information here.

If you do fancy visiting Hull (and who wouldn't?) then be warned that Whitefriargate is pronounced as something like "Witfregit". For more helpful advice on meeting and greeting the natives I can recommend this site.

What's in a name

I have said before that pubs really shouldn't change their names. This might now be called Original Keys but you can be sure that locals still call  it the Cross Keys. It's on Driffield's Market Place opposite a hotel whose sign is below, I'll let you guess the name.

Spa wars

There has been a Spa in Bridlington in one form or another since 1896. The present Spa was built in 1932 in 52 days to replace a fire damaged building. The Spa closed in 2005 for renovation and reopened three years later after a mere £19.5 million had been spent. The saga of the redevelopment of the area around the Spa is one of delays and incompetence resulting in financial losses to hotels and boarding houses in that part of the resort.The picture was taken in April last year when the works were just beginning. The promenade area was closed all last Summer which must have given tourism a great boost. The area is now open but as far as I can tell it looks pretty much the same as before with some unattractive new features. Whether the costs were worth it remains to be seen. 

 The Spa has a theatre, the finest dance floor in the country and other attractions. It is owned and run by the  county council. 

In this media savvy age there is, of course, a web site and it's here.