The right to bare arms

"The police are the public and the public are the police ..."

                                                                                                             Sir Robert Peel

In this country, well in Hull anyway, the sight of armed police patrolling the streets was until recently thankfully extremely rare. We don't much want guns on show in public for obvious reasons. The Humberside force does hold the record for the highest use of tasers in the UK but that is another matter. After the Manchester attack in May this year, however, Humberside Police have been keen to show they are protecting the public with little displays of force like this in Queen Victoria square. I'm not quite sure what good they think are doing by standing around armed to the teeth like this. I've seen pictures in the paper of them posing with children and tourists in a blatant PR blitz. I suppose they get the chance to chew the cud with colleagues, stretch their legs and get some welcome sunshine on their arms. I have to say I didn't feel very protected but then I didn't feel very threatened either.

Poundland Blues

I've shown this magnificent store before when it was a 99p Store just about to be taken over by the more upmarket Poundland. It seems that take over hit the profits of said Poundland hard (84% decline) and as a consequence this store is now an ex-Poundland (call me a cynic but I suspect that was always the intention; takeover and close down the competition is the way of the business world). And while I'm here and going on (and on) about Poundland the other store I posted about on Ferensway has also been closed and is now to be a gym and sportswear shop (how exciting!). So now the city of culture will have to make do with only one Poundland. Can things get any worse?

Margot took this symphony of blue.

Sweet Chestnut

Hull Council has been planting replacement trees in recent years and a favourite of whoever is in charge seems to be the Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa). At this time of the year it is in full (and I do mean full) bloom. The trees are covered in hundreds of spiky flowers. The bees love them. They do however have a peculiar but not unpleasant scent which some say smells like semen! I haven't noticed any fruits in the autumn as yet but with global warming no doubt folk will gathering up the nuts for roasting. Sweet chestnuts are supposed to be long living; up to 2 or 3,000 years, so these could be the Council's best investment to date. This plant is not any relative of the Horse Chestnut which I posted earlier this year; eating conkers is definitely not recommended.

Edward Booth, fireman

On our way through Spring Bank cemetery yesterday I came across this unique memorial which I hadn't noticed before. I think I might have remembered a steam train on a gravestone. Anyhow the web is a wonderful place and after two  little clicks it provided me with this site which tells you all you need to know about the sad demise in 1906 of young Edward Booth, fireman, in a rail accident and the subsequent improvements in rail safety that followed. Thanks for this work must go to the Friends of Hull General Cemetery and to W.P. Everingham & Sons Ltd, a local firm of monumental masons.

Margot took the close up.

WW on Chants Ave

I'd seen this Wilberforce thing on Chanterlands Avenue before but never had a camera handy so today armed with a new-to-me Fuji I was prepared.

Suffer the little children

So now there are eight reflection pools (at great expense)  in the space outside Holy Trinity Church now known as Hull Minster (which has more resonance?). Anyhow these are supposed to give people a "chance to reflect on their busy lives and their place in God's world". We could reflect that this space was used as a weekly market place but Hull Council decided against such a vernacular use and it has stood empty for twenty or more years. Yeah, well whatever: the people of Hull are now left with eight square puddles that refill every now and then and not surprisingly those who like that kind of thing like that kind of thing.

Slow Motion

Given the eternity that they are intended for these stones are rightly taking their time over falling down.

The theme for the first of July is 'motion'.

The weekend in black and white is here.