Hull Local Articles A Perspective on Hull By Darren Sant.

I suppose you could call this article a follow to my article entitled Stranger in a Strange Land also on this website. I wanted to explore my perception of Hull in a stream of consciousness kind of style. One phrase that springs to mind when thinking of Hull is self-deprecating. Something I have, rightly, being accused of being myself. Perhaps that is why I have grown to like Hull so much.

To aid me in writing this article and understanding the mindset of people in Hull I asked a few people if they could sum up what they thought of Hull in a few words. The results were as follows:

"I like the City and I'm sick of people slagging it off." "Hull has a lot of potential but the Council are too slow to make improvements." "The city and its appearance are getting there slowly. As for the people they have a long way to go in tolerating each others values and beliefs"

"The shopping is crap. Town is a bit pants for a night out but Bev road is a good night and Prinny ave is getting there."

As you can see peoples opinions vary and what they hold dear depends on a variety of factors. Hull for me is a unique place out on its own. So easy to get to but it has a kind of isolated middle-of-nowhere feel to it. On coming to Hull for the first time I was struck by how well mannered the people were.

Once I had settled and became fluent in Hull Patois my everyday life was less of a minefield. I could go into a mobile "fern" shop and not be handed a potted plant. I could order bread cakes with out feeling like a loon of Jack-Johnny's-here-Nicholson proportions. I could nod with genuine understanding as an old timer tells me "It's mafting today." I have even, and I say this with the utmost embarrassment and trepidation, watched a video about Hessle road. Incidentally said video featured a guy who wore a worse jumper than Noel Edmonds ever did. For that titanic achievement I applaud you Sir. I could, if I wanted to, lark for hours like a bane and I'd know what I was doing. I have eaten pattie and chips. I have been out when it is siling down. I have been down a ten-foot or two but only in the early hours when their husbands came home unexpectedly ;).

I was recently lucky enough to be a part of one of the events of the Humber mouth Literature festival (See Cilla's excellent review on this site). The Humber Mouth Literature Festival featured at least sixty different events and covered a broad spectrum of events, plays, poetry reading, artwork and experimental theatre.

In anyone's book this is an achievement to be proud of. Yet Hull just shrugs her metaphorical shoulders in a self-deprecating way and carries on regardless. Hull needs to don her best party dress, slap on some make up and shout I am gorgeous! There was a lot of fuss recently about the book Crap Towns giving the not so exalted spot of number one crap town to Hull. Well I'm not going to rise to the debate and controversy that the book deliberately tried to cause. All I will say on the subject is that in order to judge a city you have to get under its skin. You have to live there long enough to know what makes it tick. You have to get inside the heads of its inhabitants. You have to walk a mile in our shoes. Then and only then can you offer an honest opinion. Then of course it would only be one person's opinion. I suppose what I am saying in my completely biased way is that I like Hull and no one is going to convince me otherwise. Having lived here for nearly three years I have grown to love Hull.

Whether you love or loathe Hull you have to admire the spirit of her people. Indefatigably we carry on despite crap school league table results and people telling us our town smells of death. We smile a knowing smile happy that the likes of Philip Larkin, Amy Johnson and William Wilberforce have helped to put Hull on the map. Copyright © Darren Sant 2003 (Renegade Writer)

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