T'was the night before Christmas

A mad dash around Barton handling in a New Patient form to a GP practice. Collecting diabetic drugs from Boots. A dash for the 350 bus to Hull to see if there are any signs of Hull’s Opening event Made in Hull.

At the entrance to St Stephen’s Centre with his distinctive ski slope roof there’s live band music blasting out of some speakers and a temporary stage with a small huddle of people around it. At T K Maxx there are trestle tables laid out with candy shaped biscuit barrels, Christmas plates with berry laden plates on offer. Upstairs rails of men’s clothes and traumatised men searching for gifts in the homeware section. Silver Buddhas or fish shaped glass calling to them from the fast empting shelves.

I scan the shelves of Tesco for the last bits we need. More cocktail cherries Chloe has eaten them all and we need them for the snowballs. Soda bread for Jake’s Saturday grill up. Anything else I have forgotten. It takes twice as long to get through the checkout as it does to fill the trolley. I wish I was the man before me with nothing but expensive alcohol.

At last I find one of the City of Culture Information booths on the way back to Paragon bus station. It’s where the old Pumpkin coffee bar used to be near to the British Rail ticket office and National Express and East Yorkshire Coaches bureaus. It has the feel of the Olympics. Two volunteers clad in turquoise jackets and land yards ready to be of service. I wander up to the woman.

"Hello I wonder can you help. I live in Barton over the bridge and want to make the most of Hull’s Special Year. But I was surprised to hear the fireworks were going to be on New Years Day not Eve. I have booked a room for New Year’s Eve."

“Oh” she says. “Everything is on the official web site”.

“But it doesn’t tell you where you can see the fireworks if you have no ticket” I reply submissively.

“They are not letting out precise details for security reasons”. But the 25,000 lucky souls who got tickets in November know where to stand.

When I had mailed the press office about the fireworks events on 1st January she had told me it “was a free event open to all”. Um. Interesting.

The lady is so pumped up with the excitement of it all she forgets she is actually meant to be helping incomers enjoy and discover how to take part in events. The conversation turns more into a defence of publicity for Hull 2017. I still think if you do not have access to the net so far there has not been much to let you know what is going on if you are not from Hull. Which is a shame because so much will be on offer.

She hands me an Invitation booklet all about how I can see museums for free. From 2nd January to 19th March BOWHEAD at the Hull Maritime Museum will be an, "audio visual installation commenting on the city’s whaling heritage." It is a great place packed with interesting exhibits such as whale remains and Eskimo clothing. Logs of whaling ships that set sail from Hull. There is a Nero’s nearby and some of those pristine Victorian tiled wash rooms across the way. Hell has some well-preserved WCs. Details of how you can get tickets for the opening week.

A thicker booklet called Made In Hull. A season guide for January-March. I’m told I can discover more at Hull2017.co.uk. Page 50 tells me they are going to use “..the power of culture to create a new generation of thinkers and thinking in Hull”.

I wander home with my granny trolley full of Christmas fayre looking forward to the New Year in Hull.

#Hull #CityofCulture2017 #Christmas #ParagonBusStation