MORE EERIE STILL

I get carried along with the wave of people heading past the remains of the Roman Wall which is now a building site plastered with newly arrived adverts for Made in Hull. Whir friar Gate is the long street that leads to the Old Town. I am drawn like a fly to the sound coming from Zede Bees Yard. He was the old Head Master of the naval school that was there for many years. Darkness envelopes me and sound punches me in the face. Huge speakers and those flood lights you get at matches welcome me. Cultural isn’t just about classical music or opera. Hull City football team is an important aspect of life to many in Hull. A small plaque commemorating the yard being the site of Trinity House Naval school and one of the many moths, World Moth in this case, are hidden up one corner next to a moving war memorial to all those lost at sea. Personally I think this should have taken pride of place. But I am forced to soak up the atmosphere of the noise at a Hull City football match. I drift out the gate not sure where to go next. So I just follow straggles of people. I happen upon another film projected on a wall next to a pub. Lots of workers in a factory. About struggling to work in Hull. The instillation in Silver Street seems to be not happening. The only reason I know I am going the right way next is because I see two stewards in the road blocking cars from going down the street by Argos. Big yellow signs say the road is closed between 4pm and 10pm. So I keep moving like a dead bit of driftwood past some unlit graffiti plywood walls with murals of Messa Mendela and a quote about freedom which leads to a motorway under passage. There is a throng of people here and the atmosphere is that of a seedy underground nightclub which really works . There are 4 screens showing 1990’s club life and kids who look like they are out their heads on acid or high on life one of the two. I cross the road and there is a big board saying Fruit Market. One crossing more and a mini building which has multi coloured stools to rest your weary limbs and some information boards. The deep is to the left I head for the new open door theatre which is designed like a ship with the deck being the stage and the seating arranged in levels giving the feeling of sitting on a bow. For some reason people prefer to stand around the theatre… it is like they are on a ship’s deck and we are taking a journey somewhere together. You can look out to the North Sea from here and boy and you feel it. The next instillation is projected onto the side of The Deep, Hull’s answer to a Sea Life Centre. There is a countdown here too which goes down well with the kids and you get the feeling of arriving or departing from a rail station or airport. This film is all about the different nationalities who have departed or arrived in Hull and the dates. I think this gives some idea of the patterns of movement but I found over the years wandering around Hulls landmarks did this more for me. The sign of the star on a nearby pub stands out when I head for Kingston Retail park. and a lot of Jews departed to America through Hull and stayed in pub Inns like this.. A statute here and there at the end of a pier. I am puzzled why there is no mention of P and O Ferries. I head now for Humber Street. When I first came to the area 10 years ago this was real run down but interesting as I had read in the History library that this was the main street where import life was busy and vibrant in the 1800s and till the mid 1900’s. When I had visited here five years ago the streets were cobbled and uneven. There was an old crumbling hotel on the corner with pictures of immigrants who stayed there at the turn of the century adorning the walls. Now there was an empty car park. The cobbled streets were paved and even. The run down vegetable importers replaced by yuppified units. I am happy the area has been revived. Sad that markers of times past have disappeared. I find my smile at last. Thieving Harry’s is still there on the corner, a café overlooking the marina but which retains the real feeling of days gone by. A far cry from 1884 the exquisite restaurant that lines the marina, a smart Indian restaurant and a cocktail bar. The staff in there are really friendly. Fine with me just having a coffee to warm up. A waitress tells me it had been a building site up till a few days ago. I lament the run down but real feeling that used to be in the street. Tell her I am pleased they have retained the name as I had found a story about a ship’s lad who always ran off without paying from a café which once stood here. His name was Harry. She says the rents have gone up now. We both sigh. Enough for one day. I am at a 350 bus stop again heading for Barton. A billboard covers the site where a semi derelict nightclub stood all the time I have lived here. That was eerie also. New York New York symbols everywhere. It was the place to be in the 1980’s apparently. I chat to a construction worker waiting for the 57 bus. He says there has been plenty of work connected with the City of Culture, but nothing much on the outskirts. He seems pleased I love his City. As I drifted through the streets of Hull I felt like I was on a ghost ship reliving the past of this old city port. I hope you come and see Made in Hull and the other events which will wash ashore from time to time. It was an eerie experience drifting through the streets and times of Hull’s cultural and social history. The fog horn of the main instillation was a bit like the alien ship siren in War of the Worlds. I am not sure if the rudder was meant to have been from a plane, the Teletubbies or Siemen’s Wind Farm. But I met many people proud to have been Made in Hull. I wonder who I will meet tomorrow?

#CityofCulture2017 #Hull #TheDeep