Some gritty urban pics

I live in Hull which is a city in Yorkshire.

It has the reputation of being rather an unprepossessing city, but I have never found this to be so. So in an attempt to prove otherwise I have been out and about with Scamp in Hull taking a load of pics, more to come in future blogs.

The above pictures were all taken on inner city council estates. What I like about them is that they display the individuality and eccentricity which is tolerated and celebrated in Hull and which I think of as a virtue and one of the reasons I like living in this city.

Take the nautical garden. Maybe it belongs to a retired fisherman and it is delightful. Many gardens are decorated like this is Hull and it is one of the reasons I was never short of anything to talk about when I used to take my kids out and about in their buggy when they were smaller. Maybe they even helped increase their vocabulary, I don't know.

I also like the the decorated walls in the above pictures. There is a street in Hull called Askew Ave, and virtually every house is decorated like this to display the occupant's particular tastes and/or history. Perhaps the lady who owns the first house has been to Portugal for a holiday, as they seem like Portuguese tiles. A little bit of Portugal come to Hull, and even the sun came out when I took the picture. On the right they obviously like dogs as there is a little dog above the porch, rather in the manner of statues of lions at the entrance to stately homes, though obviously we are talking about diametrically opposed classes here.

Some people in Hull may even have lions at their gates as I took a picture of a garden ornament shop and some of the 'ornaments' are massive, as you can see.

A pastel block of flats. People do make attempts to beautify their environments, it is a natural instinct. Also somebody had the care to put a tiled pattern into a rather bland wall.

Your intrepid roving photographer also had a brief exchange with one of the good burghers of Hull today. What happened is that out of nowhere came a big staffie without a collar on who proceeded to run snarling after Scamp while I pulled him round and round on the lead in an attempt to get him away. The bloke ran up (shirtless) while I shouted 'Get him off', and he said 'It's not a he but a she' and I said 'He, she,I don't care what it effing is just get it off' ''F##k off''.

So while there maybe some attractive things in Hull sometimes the language isn't so pretty.