...goes out to meet the sea at Hull, and this became one of Britain's busiest ports. Some two million people arrived here from Northern Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries, travelling from here across the country to Liverpool to sail to America.
Hull: the sea, fishermen, a great maritime heritage...today the old docks have become a marina for expensive pleasure-boats. There are wonderful old pubs and smart new cafes and restaurants...a fine statue showing a family group, commemorating those long-ago emigrants...an old lightship which you can board and explore, seeing the cabins and galley and shining brass equipment that was all in use just a few decades back...and the magnificent buildings which once housed the shipping authorities and port officials are now elegant empty offices advertising space to let...and there are a number of museums, telling the local history and the maritime history...
What was once a busy noisy place is now clean and beautiful...but on a hot sunny day there were not many people in this waterside area, except at the cafes overlooking the marina. I walked along the quayside and old docks, gazed out towards the sea, pondering the history... and was almost alone. Returned to a café to catch up on emails and do some work.
The crowds are elsewhere, in the big new inland shopping centre. The fine old City Hall now hosts a tourist bureau, and the Post Office has closed and is run from the back of a shop instead.
Lunchtime Mass at St Charles church - sudden Bavarian baroque in this Yorkshire seaside city! A good number of people for a weekday Mass. A rich history. A huge number of names, four long columns of them, on the 1914-18 War Memorial...
In the evening, a change of pace. I was speaker at the HULL FAITH FORUM .This has been running for several years, and is linked to the Faith Movement. Young people from parish Confirmation groups, a great atmosphere, excellent local priests doing good work...
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during the war, the city was smashed to bits and the population moved out to satellite council estates by the socialist planners. Then the centre of gravity of the city was further shifted by moving the shopping areas to near the station (quite away from the area you are talking about). Then the area you describe was somewhat revived but the city is not really bit enough to support such a large shopping area and so the area has a "non-busy" feel. Nevertheless, it has been nicely done up and you must go (if you are still there) to the arcade with the bend in (with the old joke shop), Carvers for a fish, pattie and chips and the Black Boy for a couple of pints (used to be a press gang pub). The docks effectively ground to a halt because of the National Dock Labour Board Scheme but have really revived since it was abolished - but they are now further out of the town to accommodate bigger ships.
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