Hull Rickshaw

Seems to be the year for novel ways of  getting around the city and seeing the sights. I told you about the land train a few weeks back now we have a rickshaw to carry you about by foot power. The guy in the shades, Neil Worner, is in charge of this little project, he used to drive a white van now he pedals passengers around town and the Avenues area. It sounds like a nice idea but I expect if you're stuck in the tailback behind him you might have other ideas. I've seen a promo video he made and can only say that shy and introverted are not words that spring to mind. You wanna see? It's here.

Just noticed the England flag, must have taken this during the World Cup, you remember the World Cup? Me neither.

Lockington Memorial

I took this sometime ago but today seems the most appropriate day to post it. The Lockington rail crash on this day in 1986 left eight rail passengers and the passenger of a car dead and a lot of questions to be answered about the installation of automatic open crossings with no barriers. This memorial in Driffield's North End Park was paid for by public donations and erected twenty-four years after the accident.

You can read the official report into the accident here.

Monumental Memorial Madness

Way back in 1935 this thing (well, it is an ugly, phallic monstrosity when all said and done) was rightly considered to be a nuisance and a hazard to traffic and so Hull City Council spent £1,500 moving it from the end of Whitefriargate to the eastern end of Queens Gardens ( see here ). There it stands out of everyone's way, a focal point, if you like, for the view along the gardens. And there you might think it would stay but you would have reckoned without the all pervading madness that has overcome the City of Culture. The recently announced city facelift that I mentioned some days back includes, if  funds from the National Lottery can be found, a plan to put this darn thing back where it was. I am put in mind of the rearrangement of deckchairs on the Titanic ... oh, the cost, I forgot to mention the cost, well multiply the old cost by a thousand and you have it.

Abutilon

Taken by Margot K Juby

It's been hot and stuffy and I can't be bothered with anything to with Hull or anywhere else for that  matter. So here's an abutilon that I grew from seed this year.

Laura Norder

With crime rising in Humberside for the first time in ten years and the police aiming to make £30 million savings over the next few years with the loss of 800 jobs it is, perhaps, little wonder that public confidence in Humberside Police is the lowest in the country. You may think there are five police officers in this picture but in fact there is only one. Police community support officers dress like coppers and stroll around like coppers but no-one takes 'em seriously. 

Sewer Lane

Perhaps not the most attractively named of Hull's streets, Sewer Lane is, however, one of the oldest. It forms the southern end of what used to called Old Beverley Street which is now Manor Street, Land of Green Ginger, Trinity House Lane and Fish Street. Remains of a water course running alongside the lane have been found by those who like to dig up the past. An almshouse for fourteen poor women, Crowle's Hospital, was founded here in the 1660's and remained until demolished at the start of the 20^th century. The lane is now blocked to the north by Castle Street and has a mix of offices and social housing with views on to the marina.

Kardomah Set V2.0

I get you might want to make a buck or two out of the fortunate surroundings you find yourself in, and I'm not going to knock any artistic venture that pops up here and there. But this is Hull 2014 and well, pretending that the City of Culture thing doesn't hang around the neck of everything that happens here, why the allusion to Dylan Thomas and the Kardomah set? Did the estate agent who owns this building and clearly can't sell it on to any commercial concern and who once offered to buy the Humber Bridge, think he could get away with this sleight of hand? And those 'artists' who frequent this place; are they getting a cut of the profits? Thought not.