Friday 24 January 2014

Could be any old street


Mersey Street is just an ordinary East Hull street of neat two-up two-down terraced houses most with their little satellite dishes. It runs off Holderness Road down to a primary school whose tower you can see in the distance. Oh there's the Croda wind powered generator lurking in the distance but other than that it's just a plain old street where nothing dramatic happens except this and sadly this and many, many years ago children from the school were involved in this but apart from all that, as far as I can tell, it's just an ordinary street but who can tell?.

Thursday 23 January 2014

The Bank


I'm guessing this particular bank on Holderness Road didn't suffer too much in the recent financial crises. This old Hull Savings Bank despite no longer taking deposits seems to have no liquidity problems.

Wednesday 22 January 2014

James Stuart JP


I've passed this statue on Holderness Road hundreds of times and thought that this guy must at least have been a famous politician, an MP or some such. I mean just look at the size of the pedestal. Turns out he was just some local councillor, president of the East Hull Liberal Association no less. He started a firm producing seed oil which eventually became British Oil & Cake Mills Ltd. So a big fish in a small pond. He is said to have been active in improving education in Hull (a truly sisyphean task). Apart from this I've no idea what he, as opposed to any other local bigwig, did  to merit such a statue, paid for by one Thomas Ferens, he of the art gallery. Normally this chap is adorned with a traffic cone to keep his head warm in the Winter nights but it's been so mild lately he's cast it off.

Tuesday 21 January 2014

Half open or half shut?

Cottingham council offices
The latest news is that East Riding Council looks likely to freeze its council tax bills for the next year whilst at the same time cutting spending by £23 million. So we're paying the same but getting less in return, so no change there then. We don't know what little extras the parish council will come up with to pay for the flowers in the street and the increasingly objectionable Cottingham Day extravaganza. If government wanted to find a cut that would meet with almost universal approval then abolishing parish councils would be a sure winner. 

Sunday 19 January 2014

Silos

Taken by Margot K Juby
These are the flour silos for Jackson's bakery near Spring Bank. If you like the smell of baking bread then you should hang around this spot as there's often a yummy yeasty  aroma to the air. Mind you that is the best part of Jackson's bread which is, like most factory made stuff, tasteless industrial rubber fit only to be thrown to the ducks.

Saturday 18 January 2014

Fool me once ...


I must admit when I first saw this glove I thought someone had left it behind that is until I tried to pick it up. It's made of iron and welded to the arm of the bench. This is in Beverley, the town that brings you hanging jerkins and jester's caps as part of its tourist trail.

The weekend in black and white is here.