Saturday 24 December 2011

Winter sunset

They close the park at sunset; that's about two minutes after I took this shot.

Friday 23 December 2011

Beverley Minster

After yesterday's long range shot here's one a bit closer. I know what you're thinking; why didn't I stand a little further back to take this shot? Well I would have but in the 18th century some inconsiderate person built a row of houses right alongside so I couldn't, now if only they'd thought .... This is the western end of the minster and I'm sure you'll agree it's a fine piece of gothic construction.

Thursday 22 December 2011

Minster money pit

Here's Beverley Minster taken last Spring, you can just make out the blossom in hedgerow.This is the view from the aptly named Long Lane; I guess this view hasn't changed in many centuries. 
This imposing building, built by an old power long gone, is now a tourist attraction with an insatiable demand for money to keep the rain out. I suspect it was ever thus.

Tuesday 20 December 2011

christmas in hull dot co dot uk

When the early christians took over the pagan end of year festivals I suspect they had little idea of their own feast being taken over in turn by pursuit of sales. Still the lights are pretty enough and the crowds a lot thinner than in previous years; after all you can do it all online now.

Monday 19 December 2011

Side Elevation

Here is 'One Humber Quays'; an office block built with taxpayers' money as part of a £17 million pound development in 2006. It stood half empty for five years whilst it housed a branch of the World Trade Centre. Earlier this year the WTC decamped to smaller premises. Under the new government's policy of dismantling anything and everything the old government did the place was sold, in what can only be called a depressed market, for considerably less than cost. This is what happens when you have a 'build it and they'll come' approach to redevelopment; you build it and they come and they take it for a song. It goes without saying that no politician or official was hurt during the making of this flim flam.

Sunday 18 December 2011

The Emigrants

This statue on the waterfront near Humber Dock commemorates the more than two million European emigrants who passed through Hull on their way to America in the 19th century until the outbreak of war in 1914. That's a lot of people moving themselves out of Europe and into America; I wonder if America would be so welcoming to another flood if times get tough in Europe. 
If you're a Liverpudlian and you think this looks familiar that's because there's an identical copy at the Albert Dock, Liverpool. The sculpture is by Neil Hadlock, Mark DeGraffenried and Taylor Hadlock from Utah and was donated by a Mormon led foundation in 2001, here's a link to more on this.