Love from Newland Avenue

 

They're a romantic lot on Newland Avenue so when Valentine's Day looms they deck the trees with red hearts and ribbons. Oh and the florist, noted for its odd window displays, thinks that nothing says "I love you" quite so much as a large bull bearing a long stemmed rose. Must be something in the water.

Lime green and diarrhoea

The Drypool Bridge might have thought that it could escape the attentions of the C of C nonsense but no, it is undergoing repainting and the scheme has something, some tenuous thing, to do with John Venn (he of those damn diagrams). Mr Venn, in case you were unaware had the misfortune to be born in Hull, but possessed enough sense to leave as soon as possible and never come back. Any how riding on the back of the supposed kudos of being the place where he popped out the Culture Loons are taking him hostage as a "Born & Bred in Hull" figure of note. Almost all these B & B in H figures made their names elsewhere but that's a mere detail to the marketing man. (You can buy "Born & Bred in Hull" mugs and T-shirts should you wish but you are far too sensible to do so.)  So with Venn in mind this bridge, I suppose, represents the intersection of the set of bridges needing a coat of paint and the set of bridges in a one horse town taken over by desperate need to gain fame by association. I hope people like the colour scheme, a mixture of lime green and diarrhoea, as it's planned to last for twenty five years.

And while we're on Whitefriargate ...

And while we're on Whitefriargate, a short mediaeval street just 200 yards or so in length and once the flourishing bustling heart of town, I thought I'd count the empties as it were, the shops that serve no customers. I made it thirteen as of the end of last month. Even the charity shops have closed. I read recently that the death of the high street had been exaggerated, that people would not forgo the experience of real shopping for online purchasing. Well not here it seems.You expect to see tumble weed and hear coyotes howling.  Must make all those culture vultures wonder what kind of a place they've come to. Still the paving's new if a bit uneven in parts and there's a brand new phone box to call the Samaritans.

This 'joke shop' was opened at the beginning of the year of culture for one week only but seems to have survived. Click on it to enlarge and read the 'amusing' posters; the humour may not travel well.

I counted this as one but it could be two, so make that fourteen empty shops.

This one has been empty since at least 2014.

It's another Hull thing

OK it's one of the things that Hull is noted for: cream coloured phone boxes. I'm sure I've been over this before but briefly for those who don't know the story behind it; when all municipal phone companies were nationalised many years ago Hull Council stood firm and the phone company remained in council hands. So that's why the boxes are this distinctive colour and not red as in the rest of this pleasant land, they also lack a crown coat of arms but that's a detail for geeks. So, as I say, all phone boxes in Hull are this colour except for this one and erm that one and maybe that other one as well.
Anyhow I'm not here to talk about old history. It being the year of culture and Hull just having gone through a massive makeover (yada yada) the now privatised phone company was asked to plonk a load of these boxes around town, often in places, like here in Whitefriargate, where no phone box had ever been. I think they are actually working boxes but no-body uses them as everyone has got a mobile these days and also they're very expensive. Basically they're just there for no good reason other than Hull has cream boxes and you, as a visitor, will damn well see cream boxes. (Gee would you look! A cream phone box! That's got to be way cool!) I believe the word 'iconic' has been applied to them as well, and why not? It's applied to everything else in this cultural town.

L'accordeoniste

There's often someone trying to earn a few pennies busking on an accordion at this spot on Jameson Street. The quality of performance varies from dire to almost professional with electronic drum boxes giving some extra oomph to the performance. This guy was quite good and I left humming Sous le ciel de Paris  for the rest of the afternoon.

Scott's Square v2.0

I have posted about Scott's Square in the past and about how it is nothing more than an alley way leading to an empty space, a home for the destitute. Well as you can see there are plans to build dwellings for people to live in the area once again. This has got to be a good thing.

You win some, you lose some

After nearly two years of repairs and whatnot Humber Street is now back in use with most of the buildings having been saved. However the ones that stood next to this building which I last showed being propped up by a forest of scaffolding and ballast did not respond well to treatment and had to be removed. The place is now on the tourist "must visit" list again and there's plenty of art galleries and eateries and drinkeries for those that like that kind of thing.