Tuesday 31 December 2013

End of the year


The setting sun going down over Greenwood Avenue. This is one those interminable roads that service the North Hull Estate, a place that seems to have been designed by someone with a penchant for triangles and circles and where the roads seem not to head in any direction you want to go. I was only there to pick up a package from the Post Office ("We close at four, you know"). Took this on the way back with Margot's phone, not bad for a phone I thought.

So that's enough of 2013, not the best of years though any year you can see the end of can't be all bad. Happy New Year to anyone who reads this.


Monday 30 December 2013

Abandoned Car Wash


As the year drifts off to its wet and windy close I thought a nice cheerful picture of abandonment was in order. The buildings in the background belong to the Reckitt's factory. Reckitt's have been in Hull since 1840 on that site on Dansom Lane, back then it was just a rented starch mill now the company is known as Reckitt Benckiser and produces a vast range of stuff from health and cleaning products to condoms and mustard.  

Saturday 28 December 2013

Another look at Prince Street


I've been going through some old photos since I've not been out and about getting any new ones and came upon these of Prince Street. Don't know why I didn't post them before when I had the chance. With its cobble stones and painted Georgian houses this street has, to me, an slightly unreal feel about it, a bit like a film set. It features in all the tourist 'must see when in Hull' lists and it doesn't disappoint. 



Friday 27 December 2013

Blistering Barnacles!


Another in the long running non-series of fishy footpath plaques [ 1 ]; this one near the Minerva. Devotees of a well known Belgian cartoon character will no doubt recognise the catchphrase and so identify the fish. Others can look up the Latin.

Thursday 26 December 2013

St Stephen's Day


St Stephen's Day, the day after Christmas, signals the start of a rush to the shops to buy all those things you don't need with money you haven't got. At least that is the dream of the retailers. It is also known as Boxing Day presumably for the number of spontaneous boxing matches held in the overcrowded car parks of the area. Other odd things that happen on this day include hundreds of otherwise sane people splashing about in the cold sea (for charity, we are told), near where I was brought up they have sword-dancing and in some parts of Ireland wrens go in peril ... I feel sure there are lots more silly things going on in the world; as for me I shall be having my Christmas dinner today since I didn't feel like having it yesterday.   So Season's Greetings to one and all.

Sunday 22 December 2013

Weakest Link


Exceptional conditions show up the vulnerable spots in any defense. So it was earlier this month when the highest tide ever recorded breached Hull's defenses at this spot by the Albert Dock. There's local dispute as to whether or not the dock gates failed but what is known is that the dock quay was overtopped by a couple of feet and water rushed across town as far as Ferensway. There's another predicted spring tide round about New Year's Day, let's hope there's no low pressure system wandering down the North Sea at that time.

Saturday 21 December 2013

Use Alternative Routes


Those that make these sort of decisions chose the week before Christmas to suture one of the already sclerotic arteries that feed and drain the cyanotic city of Hull. As a result there have been daily thromboses in the western approaches. Radical surgery may be needed to by-pass the whole gangrenous mess. The patient remains in intensive care ...