Fram rediscovers Hull …
Strange how life is. From 1992 to 2008, I was based in London, and spent most of my days in the UK. And since 2004, I have been all over the country covering the British… Then life happened, and family troubles prevented me from reporting about this legendary event.
So it was nice to come back to this Northen city once more, driving all the way from Morden where my friends are kind enough to keep my little car for me all year round, and lend it to me when I come to the UK…. Driving up was easy enough, about 4h30, very little rain and that love M1 with an average speed radar camera every 3.5 miles…
Steve Cubbins – SquashSite photographer/webmaster, aka GrumpyOldG – and I are not in the official hotel, but staying in town, in the Ibis.
Fantastically placed in the Old Town, the hotel had one flaw: no parking close. I remember walking one year with Ramy from the parking to the hotel, and him asking if we could take a taxi… It was about 300m… But this year, a new parking is literally seconds away, plus a broken down pay and display meaning that the whole day parking was down to 1 pound… I’ll take that!
Nice comfy room, putting my stuff away, opening laptop… ah…. fireworks at the laptop charger… not good .. at all… Not about to find a computer shop open at 6pm on a Sunday evening… “I’ll try and ask at the reception if they have one cable that looks like that” I told Cubs, who was logically a bit dubious about a possible positive outcome!
Well, when Megan, the lovely receptionist went “let me see what I can find”, disappearing in the office, I didn’t have much hope.
But when she reappeared with a huge cardboard box full of various cables and chargers forgotten by customers, my heart went boom! And BINGO, found my cable in there, I kid you not. Megan girl, you saved my life!
Off we then went to have a little bite in the old town. I was looking forward to a chinese, but Cubs had a Wetherspoon in mind. A lovely fish and chips was waiting for us, perfect!
Then a stroll in town, just behind the parking I mentioned early, the one that is about 300m at the back of the hotel. There we found a lovely marina, with several great restaurant chains.
Fact. I was stunned to see white phone boxes! All over the UK, I always saw red phone boxes.
Well apparently Hull is the only place in the country where BT is not in charge of the phones, and that is why white and not red.
Would love to know more about that …
We kept walking along, a lovely pedestrian road, with superb buildings, and as Steve said “I ran out of fingers counting the pubs!” Yes, we can safely say there are a “few” pubs in the Old Hull Town! Jzzzzz!!!!!
Pubs, shops, museums – a whole quarter of those apparently – and even a vegetarian restaurant, James Willstrop will be happy bless him.
We were really stunned by the beauty of the buildings to be honest. Never we were expecting such a lovely sight! To be fair, we normally stayed in the tournament hotel, way outside town, in an industrial estate, and the Football ground is not exactly in a area that calls for photos (no offence intended!)
So we kept walking, shame for a few too many shops closed or for rent. But really a nice walk, discovering a part of town we never knew existed!
Back to the hotel, a quick tea before going back and work, thanks to Megan, with a charging computer!
Tomorrow, 4 matches at the same time, manic for two days apparently [and then the Masters starts]. Wish us luck, but as ever, stay tuned, as they say in Hull…
