The Drain - Memories of East Hull By Nicholas Boldock

It can sometimes transcend strangeness, the things we humans can have a fondness for. Me, I rather like "The Drain", that muddy, filthy waterway that flows through East Hull, fostering luminous green algae and prehistoric hermaphrodite fish as it goes. At first glance the drain looks like not much more than a cleverly designed cesspool, but explore it a little and you will find it has a lot to offer.

Head down Holderness Road and park up where the road crosses the drain. Get out of your car. Stand on the bridge and look downstream - either direction; you choose - and you're looking at a surreal strip of countryside, which seems to have been shoehorned into the middle of suburbia just for a laugh. It's great. Next, go down to Longhill Estate and find Frome Park. Stroll across the park (a nice walk in itself) and you once again hit the drain. From there you can take a leisurely stroll along the bank, down to Sutton Driving Range, and it's such a tranquil walk (even the resident Rugrats from the area don't disturb you down there), I defy you not to be impressed.

When you reach the bridge down by the driving range (near Carr Farm), the water is usually clear and shallow enough that you can see fish darting about - because, yes, there really are fish in there... Which takes me back...

As youngsters, us Bilton Grange kids would go fishing "in drain" (not that we ever caught anything except cholera, mind). One particular time, I'd gone down there with my best friend, Mel (unluckily for him, he's still my best pal to this day) to try our hands at fishing for whatever deformed creatures we could find swimming around in the murk. As usual, we didn't catch so much as an old boot, but as we were sitting there, we started fooling around, as kids do, and for some reason (and I honestly can't remember how it happened) Mel ended up falling in the water.

It wasn't deep, so Mel was okay; at least in so much as he wasn't in mortal danger. But he wasn't pleased. He struggled to his feet, soaked to the skin, the water coming up to his thighs, and screamed, "ME MAM'S GONNA KILL ME!" At this point, I had no real choice but to erupt into hysterical laughter, the kind of laughter that only spews forth when your best mate's just fallen into a river. I couldn't have stopped laughing if a bomb had dropped on me - I'd completely lost it. All of this just served to make Mel even more hacked off, so boys being boys, he decided the only reasonable course of action was to drag me into the water as well.

So the two of us ended up wrestling with each other on the drain bank, as I grabbed hold of whatever plants and rocks I could, to stop myself being pulled into the water, all the time still utterly helpless with a severe case of the giggles. I have to come clean here and admit that I laughed so hard that I literally, genuinely, wet myself. It was that funny, I kid you not (though maybe you had to be there).

He never did get me in the water, though I did end up covered in tonnes of mud as a result of my struggles to stay on solid ground. It would probably have been better for me if I'd just given in and gone in the water - I would have been less filthy when I got home, for a start. Like I said, boys will be boys...

Articles - Buses By Andrea Longstaff

	I was running to catch the number 13 bus in Bond Street when the driver, standing next to his vehicle and smoking a roll-up said to me "There's always going to be another bus you know" I replied that I had to be somewhere and was running late. "Why don't you walk then?" Hmmmmm and why don't you mind your own fucking business? Read more...

Articles - Behind the Wall - Ibrahim's Pavement Café By Rich Wiles, of Hull and Hebron

	Most cities and town across Europe have a central square, or several, around which the city or town is built. These can include bustling market squares in rural England, lazy plazas in small Spanish villages, and huge piazzas in Italy's great Roman cities Al-Khalil's (Hebron's) Beit Romano Square bears little in common with these Read more...

Articles - Appeal - Calling East Hull ...

	When was the last time you ate a meal so good that you had to tell someone about it? When was the last time you walked into a pub and had a really good night out? When was the last time you spoke to someone who was so unique that you immediately thought: now that would make a good story... If any of the above applies to you, then we want to hear from you. Read more...

Articles - Wilberforce House - New Exhibition By Michael Smith Age 15

	The house of William Wilberforce has been converted into a fabulous exhibition dedicated to the Slave trade and its abolition along with the life of William Wilberforce and his work. Such a museum is exactly the correct thing to do to the very house that William lived and worked in. The museum is an emotional and educational experience that Read more...

Articles - Trepanning Worked For Me And The Joys Of Public Transport By Andrea Longstaff

	The Government and the Greenies moan like fuck about carbon emissions but I use public transport on a regular basis. I don't know if it's me going through an olfactory hallucinatory phase but the buses always seem to stink of rancid piss these days, and the people that you have to endure! One time I was on the bus on my way to Park Avenue when a lass sat down Read more...

Articles - Yankeeburger By John Science

	I came across your website purely by accident when I was looking for any comments regarding Yankeeburger in Jameson Street. I was pleasantly surprised to read that a Vivian Wan from Australia worked there in the 80's and referred to me as a 'great guy' -a compliment indeed. I do remember we had some wonderful students from Asia during that period Read more...

Articles - Nappy Nature By Shellie

	Nappy Nature is the trading name for the Hull and East Riding Real Nappy Network, we are a not for profit business, by which we mean though we make a profit that money is re-invested into our activities and projects, not shareholders! We are actively working with the Real Nappy Campaign as well as any other baby and parent group Read more...

Articles - Ghost Chasers In Hull By Mike Smith

	Ghost Chasers www.ghostchasers.co.uk are Hull's Leading Internationally Renowned Paranormal Investigative Team. We investigate local and national alleged paranormal locations. The investigations we carry out are done professionally and in the strictest confidence. We do not involve the media without the clients consent. Read more...

Articles - Why Should I Use Cloth Nappies?

	Breast feed, bottle feed? Home Birth, Water Birth, Hospital Birth? What colour to decorate the baby room, cots, cribs, moses baskets? What's a muslin square again? Without a doubt there are many, many options open to you as a parent to be, with so many retailers telling you what to buy, and so many magazines reporting what you Read more...

Articles - I Want To Be a Megalomaniac But Haven't Got The Confidence By Andrea Longstaff

	I've decided that I'm going to jump onto the current bandwagon and devise a new and improved fitness and relaxation programme. I'm going to call this regime pilokga (pronounced piloogar). It's a combination of Pilates, knitting machine maintenance and yoga. Well I have been attending a yoga class for a couple of years now. I've also watched Read more...

Articles - Saddam Hussein And Reality's Last Gasp By Joe Hakim

	I managed to contract some sort of stomach bug over Christmas, so I spent the majority of it alternating between puking my guts up and shivering under a blanket. My dreams were populated by images of dead friends being devoured by giant skeletal insects in the ruins of Hull's new bus station, and I became convinced that my neighbour was plotting to drive me Read more...

Articles - Life in Walajah By Suzy Allott

	I have to say that I've started writing this a few times, but every time I've given up as the words seemed a little empty. The past few weeks in my new home have been, typically, both great and heart breaking. I'm now working in the village Walajah. It's great to be part of such a small, close community, and as such I'm having to walk up all of the steep hills around Read more...

Articles - God's Plan??? By Merle R. Stone

	As of late, (this morning, to be precise) I find myself in a state of realization which actually sort of frightens me. What I am beginning to realize is that if I were to stumble upon God, the supreme Almighty, say on the street or in some bar, I would kick him square in the balls. Then, I would question him to his face about his 'Divine Plan' as it has been called. Read more...

Articles - Lets Talk 'Bout Eugenics, Kids By Sally Satan

	My long-held prediction that shit American films would rule the world may have finally come true. I mean, I always thought these 'innocent' Disney flicks contained secret totalitarian messages, but hell - it sounds like someone's taken Honey I Shrunk The Kids a bit too seriously... This week, a profoundly disabled teenage girl in America has been deliberately kept in Read more...

Articles - The Restoration of Wellington Street Swing Bridge Part 3 By Tony Waddington Photographs By Tony

	In September the eastern side of the bridge was lifted into position by the Ainscough crane crew and with great skill put the 60 tonne span on the centre pintle without any problems Now it's the turn for the western span to be delivered by road from Sheffield based Davy Markham. Arriving on time along with the huge crane, the operation got under way. Read more...

Articles - Update On Georgie By Peter Fenwick

	As you know from previously on thisisull (Birds in Hull By Pete and Sue ), we bought an African grey parrot 18 months ago and called him George. We had George DNA tested by a local vet. Just letting you know that we, Pete Sue and George are doing really well. He has started to talk now, saying the usual things, whistling, singing, cuppa tea, going shopping etc. Read more...

Articles - Whole New Life By Peter Fenwick

	Having lost my wife's father in September this year we inherited his allotment in Tavistock Street off Newland Avenue. Sue's dad Stan had kept his allotment for 15 years. Our first job at the allotment was to dig up 24 rows of potatoes. This mammoth task took about three weeks, and I think everyone we knew received a sack of organic spuds. Then it was time to pick Read more...

Articles - An Open Letter To The Good People of Hull By Merle R. Stone

	My dearest good people of Hull, I know it has been a very long time since I have seen any of you, and for that I am deeply sorry. I hope this letter finds you all enjoying good health and high spirits. What compels me to write today is that I find myself somewhat lonely for you. I realize that many of you will not remember me, and maybe more than a few of you are asking yourselves Read more...