Tall poppy syndrome

Even in these austere days the Council sees fit to go round with herbicide and clear any green growing thing from the base of every roadside post. Further they go round every fortnight with mowers trimming down all the grassy verges. It something they do because they've always done it, an utterly pointless waste of money. Does long grass threaten civilisation or do flowers portend a revolution? What harm would it do to leave things be and let a billion flowers grow? 

"We all go a little mad sometimes....Haven't you?"

I wonder if they have a fruit cellar ...

Post Office Red

When the grand old central post office up the road was closed a few years ago this less imposing but perhaps more viable post office opened up on Lowgate. Clearly it's had a recent repaint job and is looking all spick and span.

Dead Poets' Corner

I took a few more shots of Larkin's somewhat grotesque statue in Paragon Station the other day with a view to using them at some point in the future. He's always good for a post on a dull day is my view. Well it seems the dull day has arrived rather quicker than I expected as it's been announced that the man who handed on misery to man is to be honoured, if that's the right word, in Westminster Abbey's poets' corner. Would it be going too far to say that the Abbey is jumping on the city of culture bandwagon? Perhaps. The ceremony, on December 2 2016, will take place only days before the start of the Culture fest in 2017. The custom used to be to bury the famous scribes in the Abbey but nowadays they just lay a named floor stone. I'm thinking a pair of entwined bicycle clips or a hedgehog would be a fitting extra decoration anything but toads ....

Shark infested pavement

Regular readers will be aware of the Hull fish trail. Well here's another one for the collection, a rather sad looking shark, and I think it's the biggest on the trail. It's on Whitefriargate near the ugly brute I posted a while back. This shark is carved from slate and was originally in the middle of Whitefriargate but was damaged by a heavy truck. It's now repaired and out of harm's way, appropriately outside the HSBC building.

Dope Burger

Parked up on Midland Street this decorated van belongs to a take away, or rather a fast food restaurant,  by the name of Dope Burger on Anlaby Road. Despite its name, or maybe because of it, the place has rave reviews ...

Bring out your dead

I mentioned so time ago that the old burial ground of Holy Trinity church on Castle Street stood in the way of proposed improvements and that a large portion of it would have to cleared. People were asked to make contact with the authorities if their ancestors were interred in here. Anyhow some work has started, all hidden behind a whopping high fence. However they forgot about the bit where the old wall stands so it's possible to hold a camera over and take a sneaky peek. They've cleared the gravestones and some kind of drill is in place. Clearly this has done irreparable damage to the place. At least the trees are still standing, hopefully the bat roost is undisturbed.

Now all this might be deemed fit and proper; clearing ground for development and so on, if the proposed road scheme were just itching to start. But, and this comes as absolutely no surprise, there is still no planning application in place and the Highways Agency now claims there are environmental issues it has to overcome. The start date is pushed back to 2020 or even later ... or never. I let you draw your own conclusion about the announcement of this further delay coming just after the recent election. You get the feeling we'll all be dead in our graves before this is started.

PS. I should add that all the exhumed bones will be reburied in an unspoilt part of the graveyard. And this from the local paper is advice to anyone who thinks their ancestors may be buried there to call the project team on 0113 2836805 or email A63castlestreet.hull@highways.gsi.gov.uk