Ghost hotel

On the corner of Queen and Wellington Street, the building known as Wellington House has been boarded up and depictions of life from a bygone age have been posted on those boards I suppose to stop graffiti artists. This expansive lithograph is deceptive in that it does not show the buildings opposite the hotel. Glover's hotel was on the same street as the Oberon I showed a few days ago; it's now long gone and only a seedy pub is on that site.

“Nothing happens. Nobody comes, nobody goes. It's awful.”

And still we wait for the bridge to open.... Promised in September to open in October and here we are mid-November. What do we do now? Wait ....

Hull's one and only anchor

On High Street just past the Myton Bridge and adjacent to the Icefish I showed yesterday is this impressive black anchor. There's no sign as to where it came from and I can find nothing via our mutual friend Google. It seems sturdy enough but as the old saying goes it is best to trust to two anchors.

Life in a cold climate

This pavement plaque is part of the Seven Seas Fish Pavement that I have mentioned before [ 1 ]. This one is an Icefish something which I'd never heard of. Turns out these creatures have somehow managed to mangle up the gene for haemoglobin production which under normal circumstances would come under the heading of 'not recommended'. However they live as proof that variety is indeed the spice of life. Living in very cold Antarctic waters, where the oxygen levels are higher than in warm water, they hang on in there. They're also translucent as the best picture on Wikipedia clearly shows here. There's an informative article here.

Talking about the struggle for survival, the Seven Seas fish oil factory in Hull has been scheduled for closure. The firm blames the country's economy, personally I blame the fact they didn't employ me when I applied for a job there 25 years ago. Anyhow that's another 250 people who may lose their job as we confidently stride out of recession, or not.

From Victoria Pier

This is the view towards the river Hull from what is now called the Victoria Pier but which used to be called the Corporation Pier and from which ferries ran across the Humber to New Holland.  I thought the gull deserved a close-up for not flying away while this idiot was lining it up for the shot.

City Daily Photo's In Focus features an interview with me covering cynicism, romanticism, Philip Larkin and other bits and bobs about photography and Hull. Though I say it myself it's far from boring. Read it here.

Voter apathy

Yesterday (Thursday) we had elections for police and crime commissioners. These individuals are to replace the established and functioning local police authorities. Despite it being the first election of its type enthusiasm for this vote is lower than low, estimates of a 10-15% turnout have been made. Due to very poor publicity no-one seems to know who is standing or what qualities are needed for the job. As one of the candidates was John Prescott a former Labour MP,  cabinet minister indeed deputy prime minister no less I went along just to vote against him. The choice of a church for a polling station was apt since God only knows what's going to happen with this vote.

The only sign

Oh this is a pub sign for sure but the pub is gone. The Oberon on Queen Street is no more and now a set of luxury apartments and a property developer (what else?) has taken over. Only this sign and, strangely, the pub name remain of this once fine hostelry

.