Made to Measure Trunks

Yes, you may have felt the urge to measure a tree but do you really know how to go about it? 

The Woodland Trust have produced a definitive guide on the subject covering all types, shapes and species of woodland and individual trees as part of their quest to increase awareness on their landscape value and ecological importance particularly for trees of Ancient Status.

A few prolific measurers have emerged in history with their life's work being to gather as many examples as possible. Alan Mitchell, the co founder of The Tree Register of the British Isles is said to have measured more than 100,000 trees in just over 40 years. 

There is a standard point on the trunk of a tree for a valid measurement and that is at a height of 1.5 metres from the ground. 

This should be, if on sloping ground, from the highest part of the surroundings. This is subject to a brief look to see if there has been any unusual ground disturbance or erosion which could give a wrong recording. 

If the tree happens to be on a bit of an angle which can occur if poorly planted, wind-damaged or in ill health then the point of measurement is to be taken on the underside. 

In the case of a fork in the tree or where the trunk is abnormally swollen then the smallest measurement below 1.5 metres should be taken and a note made of the actual height from the ground. 

With small or very low branches you may have to negotiate the tape measure above the growths although attempts should always be made to get as close as possible to the magic 1.5 metres. 

Some trees can be twinned or double stemmed they should be treated as a single and individual tree. 

A clump of trees are of value to the recording process as some can be of ancient status and worthy of close study. 

The measuring of a tree gives it an identity and helps to highlight its importance as perhaps the largest of its type in its local area. Without historical references for the vast majority of trees it is important to help estimate age. Those in the Natural Sciences and Ecology can use the data to assess growth rates as well. 

If you cannot physically get to a tree, for example it might be on private property, in a hazardous location or on the opposite side of a ditch or stream you may have to make an estimate. 

A useful way to measure is in "hugs". 

This involves an actual embrace of the trunk with one hug being the equivalent of 1.5 metres. 

It is helpful to have others with you to do the hugging and that makes it so much easier and a lot of fun.

So get out there and get on with it. 

Your records can be uploaded to the site

www.ancient-tree-hunt.org.uk

Russia Report 1873

The good people of Kingston Upon Hull always put on a good show to make visitors welcome. 

This would normally be with plenty of forward planning but what about with as little as 48 hours notice? 

That was certainly the case in the July of 1873 when the Lord Mayor and Corporation of Hull received notification of the imminent arrival of the Heir Apparent to the Russian Empire, the Czarewitch who within 8 years would become Alexander the Third. 

It was an important visit for the City given the strong commercial links of the port with Russia but it was not a State sponsored visit which was disappointing for the local Council and its Officers in terms of making it a great Civic Event. 

The Heir Apparent was on a flying visit to oversee the construction, by Earles Shipbuilders who operated on Hedon Road, of a Yacht for use by the Russian Royal Family. 

The entourage were to arrive by train from London with a brief halt at Hessle where the baggage was off loaded for forwarding to Kirkella Hall which was to host the private party. 

Even with such short notice a very credible programme of events was rapidly formulated to the extent that tickets were issued for those privileged enough to be on the platform at Paragon Station for the arrival. 

As the locomotive approached the citizens of Hull congregated on the newly built Park Street bridge and in the precincts of the station itself men and boys clambered up onto the roofs of carriages to get a better vantage point. 

From somewhere in the vaults was found VIP carpets in green and crimson as well as a multitude of what was described in the local press as "large and handsome flags" on municipal buildings. 

The Officials of Kingston Upon Hull dressed in their formal ceremonial attire and a good contingent of the Fourth East York Artillery Volunteers and their Band formed a guard of honour for the Russian Heir. 

There was by all accounts a large crowd either drawn by news of the event or just milling about on their own normal day to day activities. They were all trying to catch a glimpse of Alexander and his Consort. The Czar to be was a tall man, over six feet in height and wore a light grey suit. 

He paused briefly to receive the welcome speech from the Lord Mayor but without response as he was understandably keen to fulfil the purpose of his private visit across town. 

The route taken by the Royal convoy followed Whitefriargate, Lowgate, High Street and Market Place with yet more displays of flags and bunting and an enthusiastic crowd. 

The shipyard of Earles was a major employer in Hull with around 2000 workers covering all of the skills and tasks of an important company. As well as surveying his own commissioned Yacht the Czarewitch showed great interest in many of the other vessels at varying stages of construction, amongst them warships for the Chilean Navy and a vessel intended for a cross channel route with a revolutionary Bessemer Saloon which pivoted with the motion of the ship to counter sea sickness. 

After a couple of hours the Russian Royal party took the long drive westwards along Anlaby Road, Wold Carr and through the small village of Anlaby to stay and be entertained at Kirkella Hall. 

The best intentions of a Civic Welcome had been largely thwarted by the private purposes and brevity of the visit but graciously the Czarewitch sent a letter of very complimentary thanks to the Hull Corporation which was very well received. 

Off to a flying Start

If you drive to the west of Hull into Brough, now a sprawling housing area, and through towards the old Roman harbour at Brough Haven you cannot avoid sight of the former Blackburn Aircraft Company factory. 

Latterly occupied by BAe Systems and now sub divided into a High Tec Business Park it was in the halcyon days of flying in the inter war years a thriving manufacturing site for many great and iconic planes. 

My late Father in law worked there on, in particular the Blackburn Beverley a quite unusual looking machine used for freight and aerial parachute drops by the RAF. 

From the 1920's the physical location of Brough on the Humber Estuary became synonymous with the development of flying boats intended for the military. 

The first model, the Blackburn Iris which went through a series of subsequent modifications was an all metal construction which marked a major technical change from wood and fabric composition. 

The Blackburn Iris

The Iris was a bi-wing aircraft with three large engines mounted between the lower and upper wings which themselves sat above the boat shaped fuselage. 

It's particular sphere of operation with the RAF was in long range maritime reconnaissance and although in service for around 4 years there were only 5 actually built. The Iris was succeeded in the early 1930's by the Blackburn Perth which was in fact another incarnation of the Iris and the Blackburn Sydney, a more advanced monoplane design although still retaining for power and speed the distinctive upper mounted triple propeller engines. 

Only 4 of the Perth's were ordered by the RAF but there were high hopes at the Blackburn factory in Brough for the then futuristic looking Sydney to be taken in much larger volumes and therefore constituting a commercial success for the company. 

The Blackburn Perth (War Museum Collection)

The Sydney was reputed at the time to be the largest and fastest monoplane flying boat in the world. 

That was quite a claim in an era of strong global competition and in reality it was only initially targeted for military use. The all metal construction had been pioneered by the predecessor types and in late 1930 the sole prototype was being tested in air trials from its Humber mooring stage at Brough. 

Blackburn Sydney

The actual performance was a closely guarded secret but 120mph as a top speed was suggested. 

The specification of the Perth Flying Boat had actually indicated a slightly higher top speed but in the hype and media attention for the revolutionary appearance of the Sydney such a fact had been conveniently forgotten. 

The three engines gave out 525 horse power each. They were positioned in what were called nacelles on top of the wing along with water tanks, radiators and a cooler whilst the fuel tanks sat in the hull structure. 

The crew of 5 were accommodated with some home comforts including sleeping cupboards in the style of a trawler's quarters, a small galley and a lavatory. The military application determined gunnery posts in the bow and amidships. 

The launch of the prototype from Brough for a rendezvous with the RAF Assessors in Felixstowe was not at first successful and the aircraft was forced to return to base by heavy fog down the East Coast. 

When the appointment was finally met there was ultimate disappointment in that although having taken delivery of the Iris and Perth the RAF did not take to the Sydney. 

The prototype was the only one ever made. 

Blackburn as a manufacturer of Flying Boats lost ground rapidly to the likes of Supermarine, Short with its work horse in the Sunderland and the more exotic Martin Mariner and Consolidated Catalina. 

For a few years on the Humber however the Blackburn family of flying boats will have been quite a sight. 

Stack 'em high

After having done the research behind the blog about surviving the inner city in Hull in 1847 I found an interesting aspect of Public Health which I had not really given much thought to. 

Amongst the hazards and risks to the population of Hull in that middle part of the 19th Century and over and above those posed by open ditches, fetid pools of sewage, bad drainage, pigstys and pollution from industrial processes was that of Intramural Interment. 

This relates to the common practice of using the precincts of a Church for the burial of bodies. 

At one time in Medieval history this was a custom reserved strictly for Priests, Holy persons and the wealthy. 

Over the centuries it became the common practice for all and sundry to be received after death in this way. 

A major flaw in this arrangement was that with a high mortality rate in the population in the Victorian Era the often confined spaces of churches and their immediate grounds became quickly overwhelmed with coffins. 

Furthermore, as urban areas expanded many great churches, originally long pre-dating any development became enclosed with houses and general buildings. 

The Sanitary Committee of Hull, in producing their Report on the state of Hull in 1847 highlighted what they called the "offensive burial grounds". The accumulation and decomposition of corpses stacked in many layers in and above the ground or having fallen out of their coffins had been going on for a number of years. 

The sheer volume of coffins in St Mary's Churchyard had rendered it necessary to remove three or four of them for a single funeral to take place. The High Church burial ground in Hull was also reported to be heaving with corpses

You can imagine the noxious vapours and matters injurious to health with conditions ripe for Cholera and dysentery. 

It was this type of indecent and dangerous aspects that brought about an outcry on the practice of intermural interment. 

Notices were issued to Clergy, Wardens and Gravediggers in 1853 about an Act of Parliament which had just been passed to allow the founding of cemeteries farther out of the main urban areas. 

It was not however until 1875 that it became forbidden to form a vault or grave within any church from a qualifying period. 

Impressment in Hull

A life at sea in the 18th and 19th Centuries was the chosen career of only a few. 

To the majority it was a necessity to head for the high seas to support a family and dependants or to escape the squalor and deprivations of a shore based existence. 

Saying that the turnover of personnel was huge and a startling statistic from the era was that out of the hundreds of thousands of fatalities whilst in the service of the Royal Navy the vast majority of these were not from actual conflict but from diseases such as malaria, dysentery and those of a sexually transmitted type. 

In the interests of keeping up the numbers for the vital maritime service the power of Impressment was available. 

Not a common word in the modern vocabulary it meant the collection by force of unwilling recruits for the navy and the army. 

In its more common manifestation of the Press Gang it was a most hated and violently resisted practice and in my home city, the Port of Kingston Upon Hull in Yorkshire, England there was often bloodshed and rioting of its townspeople against its use. 

The legitimately operating Press Gangs were based in vessels anchored in the Humber Estuary known as the Inner and Outer Guard. One of these positions was just off the Old Garrison and the other at Whitebooth Roads. 

From here the Press Gangs were able to intercept merchant ships as they approached what they expected to be the safety of the harbour after many weeks, months and more on the High Seas. This was particularly cruel as many of the returning crew members would be within sight of their home Port and the welcome prospect of a reunion with loved ones who may have been witness to the very events from the shore. 

Perhaps the most common perception of the Press Gangs was of a land based contingent preying on individual seamen who may have been separated from their peers or were worse for wear from drink or other forms of stupor. 

In Hull the main Press Gang was of 12 men and an Officer. They were regularly involved in scuffles on Church Lane and in Humber Street in the Dockside areas which invariably ended in bloodshed. There were reports of sailors being dragged from stage coaches on the Beverley Road or a hunting ground which yielded forth a good quota of unfortunates was amongst those leaving the popular public houses of Ships Glory and Labour in Vain. 

In the early 19th Century a seaman crossing North Bridge was accosted by a Press Gang but wriggled out of his jacket and was then pursued. 

Workers at the Old Dock Basin saw his plight and joined in on the side of the seaman. Being outnumbered by the public the Press Gang ran down Lowgate and headed for their base on Humber Street. Such was the venom of the mob that the premises were wrecked and furnishings thrown out into the street and into the river. 

This type of public reaction was common where the actions of Impressment were seen or rumoured to be about to take place. 

A good proportion of the massed rank mobs were women which was understandable in that their menfolk, whether husbands, lovers, sons or brothers were at risk from being spirited away to the far reaches of the Empire, likely as not never to be seen again. 

Examples of mob action were common.

In 1798 a Naval Lieutenant and his Gang were attacked by a crowd and the Militia had to be called out to enact a rescue. 

In 1803 a mob chased a Gang to the Ships Glory pub and proceeded to tear the place apart. 

A spy gathering information for the Press Gang on the Beverley Road was spotted by a group of women who were working haymaking in a meadow. They challenged him .His fate is not known. 

It was not just seamen who were in peril of being forcibly requisitioned into the Royal Navy. A Shipwright in 1815 was seized as he left the Dockyard. In desperation he jumped into Humber Dock but was followed in by two of his pursuers. A fight ensued in the murky water before the civilian was rescued by onlookers who had found a rowing boat. 

One of the most violent conflicts was not on the shore within the Old Town of Hull but just out on the Humber. The two Guard Ships, the Nonesuch and Redoubt approached and attempted to board the Blenheim, a whaler on its return to Hull from Arctic waters. The crew of the Blenheim were tough, seasoned seafarers and put up a stiff resistance using the tools of their trade, knives and harpoons. 

The Blenheim was also fired upon but got through the Old Harbour Entrance and was run ashore. The Press Gang boarders closed in but two of their number were killed in the fight. One of the Blenheim crew had his hand on the bulwark when struck by a cutlass. He thereafter became known around the Port as Three Fingered Jack. 

The battle drew a large crowd who were partisan in their support for the Whaling Crew. The outcome was that the Captain of The Blenheim was sent to York Assizes Court but was acquitted of all charges and returned to Hull to a heroes welcome. 

The era of the Press Gangs became well established in the history and folklore of Hull although was not the most auspicious for its violence and as a cause of aggravation to its hard working people.

Surviving the Inner City in Hull 1847

If you take a few moments to study old 19th Century maps of a place you start to build up a picture of what it must have been like to have lived there. 

There is only so much however that a one dimensional representation can convey. 

What cannot be imagined is the combination of sights, sounds and smells that will have been part of a typical everyday life for the residents and work force. 

A very graphic and disturbing account of my home city of Kingston Upon Hull as it was in 1847 really emphasises the squalor, deprivation and disease ridden environment of a good proportion, if not the majority of its inner city population. 

The document was a report of the Sanitary Committee of the Medical Society of Hull specifically on the sanitary state of the town. 

The streets, alleyways, courts and cul de sacs did have interesting and somewhat idyllic and characterful names. 

These are, apart from a few examples, long lost to todays Hull A to Z map. 

Bore's Entry, Dibbs Court, Caleys Entry, Paradise Place, Old Dark Side, Atlas Alley, Westwards Yard, Eastcheap, Botanic Terrace, Mechanics Lane, Tripps Square, Boteler Street, Popple Street, Marvel Street, Milligans Buildings, Dickens Entry and Black Swan Yard are just a few names. 

On the old maps the areas around the River Hull corridor and the network of land drains and ditches is a solid mass of black to denote the density of development. There is little differentiation between houses and industry as they co-existed wall to wall, yard to yard. 

The dwellings were rented as the notion of owner occupation was only within the means of the very wealthy and emerging middle class and so the slum landlords went for the smallest floor areas, back to back buildings, tiny windows and no fireplaces which meant very poor natural light and ventilation. 

Overcrowding was the norm with reports of 3 married couples in one room, concentrations of 15, 16 and 21 persons both adult, child and infants across 3 rooms. The highest density seen in Hull was 46 persons in less than a handful of rooms. 

Even worse was that the essential amenities, however crude, had to be shared and it was not unusual for 1 privy lavatory albeit just a bucket of soil or open trench, to serve ten users. 

Very few of the housing areas had, what the Committee Report referred to as "covered channels of communication with the main drain" meaning that all foul waste, bodily and other, just ran under natural flow into the nearest drains or stagnated.  

There were badly constructed outfalls which impeded the removal of the sewage to the usual watercourses such as the Damson Drain. The occupants of St Quintins Place, William Street and Hedgerow Drain were said to be "strangers to the purity of atmosphere". 

The description of stinking ditches and smoking dung hills was as damning as it was evocative of the poor living conditions. 

The term "Muck Garth" was used for the location at the end of each terrace or block of tenements and houses where human excrement and detritus was deposited. They were no more than open ditches and the combination of decomposing effluent, animal carcasses and vegetation made for a cocktail of stifling and toxic emissions. 

There was little open space for a breeze to dissipate this stench and in the summer months in particular the air quality was oppressive. The liquid refuse could only be depleted by evaporation under the sun. 

Add to the human lifestyle factor the presence of domestic animals in the houses and courtyards and you got the cumulative effect of pig waste and from kept rabbits. The word Middenstead, long since disappeared from the vocabulary, referred to a dunghill. These could be piled up against the walls of the houses and with pungent and harmful liquids and residues seeping into cellars, wells and standing in fetid pools on the unmade or badly paved paths and roads. 

The population were captive in these areas of Hull because it was where they found their means of employment. 

There was no regulation or control of where and how industry could establish itself or in its processes and waste products. Factories on the very doorstep of the squalid housing produced noxious and hazardous gases and odours. A common stench was from Sulphate of Ammonia which was used in many lines of manufacture. Dense smoke persisted in the districts and was absorbed into the lungs and wash-line hung clothes of the residents. 

The industry of Hull included fish drying, bone boiling for soap and glue products, slaughter houses, glass and rope works, whale blubber processing, foundry's and ship building. 

The work force eked out a pitiful living in these operations and suffered for it in frequent debilitating illness and mortality rates for adults and children were disproportionately high in all of the Inner City Wards of Hull even those where improvements in housing and drainage had been implemented. 

The impact of fever, stomach complaints, English Cholera, dysentery and respiratory illness was disastrous on families and the wider population. 

The 1847 Report will have shocked and terrified its authors in equal amounts but was the catalyst for public expenditure by the Corporation to bring in clean water, swiftly and hygienically remove waste, upgrade living conditions and slowly improve the existence and health of the people of Hull. 

Many of the aforementioned streets  were not actually demolished and cleared until the second half of the 20th Century.

3001- a blog oddity

Today's blog is the 3001st of my adventure in the bloggersphere. That is hard to believe. In actuality the number is not as high as when busy or tired I have cheated and revisited what is after all a huge achve of work and re-posted with, if necessary, a bit of an update. I wrote the blog featured below way back in September 2011 with the news of having reached an earlier milestone of just 50 blogs. 

It is with some sense of pride and achievement that I have reached the milestone of my 50th blog ever.

If I could track down my primary school teacher who said I would not really stick to any worthwhile thing I certainly would. No longstanding grudge there then. 

With Oscar speech aplomb I admit that getting to 50 has been a labour of love, mispellings and bad grammar and I apologise to those who have been offended by mixed tenses, misappropriation of commas, semi colons and  frequent use of parenthesis. 

I have many people to thank for getting me here and especially my 6 followers. 

Thank you Blogspot.com for flatteringly recording 7 followers although one of them is obviously me. 

My family deserve credit for the initial encouragement to launch my blogography. 

Writing down nonsense, bad taste and politically incorrect notions has been therapeutic and to my family it means that whilst typing I am quiet and concentrated and therefore pretty harmless. 

From one to ten of my bloggings was quite difficult. I was unsure of myself at first and went for the usual rants and angst ridden text which looks mature but is quite juvenile really and always looking for a cheap laugh. Toddling along I got through the formative stages and then entered the blogging teens. Eleven to Nineteen were more of the style I was looking for. A bit observational, some self criticism, a lot about Volkswagens, spiders and animals that I have run over. 

Towards the upper teens some element of sophistication emerged and I announced to the bloggersphere that I had two cafetieres and attended farmers markets. I believe that I lost a lot of readers because of these revelations. 

In my twenties the inevitable critics began to twitter that my material and inspiration was drying up or was becoming a bit predictable. I was in fact beginning to settle down and find my own style. I did want to be entertaining but also to exercise my own personal demons and in self analysis and regression to rid myself of bad things I have done in my life. 

I have trafficked in people by swopping a girlfriend in junior school for a packet of rainbow drops.(sorry Louise Smith). I think I may have killed my Gran's dog. I have ridden my bike on the pavement many times in breach of the law. I have not used the recycling bins appropriately. I eat whilst driving and am often distracted if the salt and pepper shakers roll under the seat.  

Unfortunately by admitting to these things I have lost out on at least five blogs. 

In the blog thirties my reminiscence gene kicked in and I recalled times spent fishing, cycling and canoeing. Psychotherapists may attribute this to a past dreamlike state, a distant memory of Halcyon days but I think it is because I am now too lazy and fat to ever do these activities in any serious capacity. The canoe expedition to the source of the River Hull excepted.  

Things slowed down in my blog forties and with  a noticeable middle age spread of subjects. I have however resisted being grumpy, judgemental and political which is quite remarkable as that is how I am in the non-blog world. 

I do prefer my blogself and feel it is more me, or at least how I could be if unfettered by the burdens of modern life. I have blatantly used the blog to make a record of family memories and this is a very rich source of experiences. If anyone wants to take out an injunction against publication of certain things I advise that you start proceedings now. You well know who I mean...................................

Reaching 50 blogs has not been easy. I have struggled to meet my self imposed discipline of at least one blog a day and I admit that I have sometimes considered the easy option of regurgitating current news topics ,slagging someone off, dissing others or posting a photograph (that I do have) of cloud shapes over Drax Power Station resembling Godzilla humping. (requests by e mail only. High Res jpeg). 

In conclusion blogging has been difficult and hard work particularly where any original creativity has been bludgeoned out by modern life, pressures and conformity. 

It has however been very enjoyable for me. 

I have no grudges with the aadvarks because as Spike Milligans most unsuccessful joke goes...."aadvarks never killed anyone"

Down on the Farm

Every so often I come across an urban property that has been used as a drug farm. 

In recent years these have mostly been large commercial buildings with a full scale cultivation mechanism in place but more recently there has been a scaling down into compact units within the four walls of someone's house. 

I should qualify that statement. 

It is not people doing it in their own homes but where a tenancy is taken out, ostensibly for legitimate occupation as cover for setting up the systems and paraphernalia by which to generate a quick profit.

This was the scenario in a street in my area of work coverage just a couple of days ago. 

It is a quiet place of older inner city terraced houses with a mixture of longstanding owner occupiers and a more recent trend for shared occupation of rooms under one roof, bedsits or flats. 

This particular property did not distinguish itself from its neighbours from the outside. Through the front bay window could be seen a living room but beyond that facade of ordinariness and rather boring conformity lay a semi wrecked interior. 

Drug cultivation takes a lot of heat and moisture. The City Police Force did for some time have a helicopter with a heat detecting camera and this was invaluable in spotting localised abnormal temperature signatures which made rather a beacon of the roof above where the illegal activity was taking place. 

However, for financial and political reasons the chopper was discontinued giving the go ahead for an escalation in this type of specialised horticulture with a much lower risk of giving itself away to the authorities with the usual tell tale signs.

Venting out the excess products of the process calls for the excavation of lots of holes. 

In the room behind the comfortable lounge, previously concealed by a heavy hanging curtain, was the first in a series of openings in the timber floors. Passing out warm and humidity laden air under the house and then out through the air bricks is an efficient and subtle exhaust system. 

I had to tread carefully in the back rooms on the ground floor to avoid falling through into the void and also to dodge a lot of dog excrement and discarded dry biscuit canine food. 

The largest of the holes were however upstairs which appeared to have been the most productive zone. 

The chimney flues had been opened up just below ceiling level as another means to vent the rooms. In the corners of all of the former bedrooms there were similarly sized apertures to use the roof void above as a further dissipation route. 

Maintaining the perfect cultivation environment from thermostatically controlled heat lamps in these rooms called for a lot of foil based insulation and this had been suspended and stretched out using the clips and ties that were now strewn everywhere. 

My visit had been on the instructions of the unfortunate landlord to check on the insurance cover. 

It was not clear whether the drug farm had just completed its quota, packed up and moved on or had been raided and its contents seized and impounded for evidential purposes. 

In all previous cases of my attendance at such properties there was anonymity and mystery about the perpetrators. It was if they had just evaporated in the same way as the fantastic volumes of energy used in their short period of occupation. 

This house was different in that on one of the upstairs doors there was a brown paper bag with a hand written note. 

The script was neat and tidy but it told the story of part of the operation that had gone on. 

The room was numbered 4 and had at the time of writing the 120 square feet of space had been the location of 218 cannabis plants at two feet height. This had been achieved by 12 lights and 12 transformers. 

The business had not closed but just relocated. 

Seadrome Hull

In the first couple of decades of the 20th Century there were tremendous advances in flying. 

This was no better illustrated by the differences between the aircraft developed by the Wright Brothers in 1903 to the types of war machines just 11 years plus further on in the 1914 to 1918  conflict. 

The inter war years saw an upsurge in re-purposing of aeroplanes into the commercial sector for the carrying of paying passengers and freight goods. The route that was seen to be the most lucrative was the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean between the United States and Northern Europe. 

This was challenging given that long distance flights required frequent fuel stops making it necessary for a slower and indirect route to be adopted. 

As early as 1919 a new word entered the vocabulary related to flight- Seadrome. 

It will have sounded quite futuristic at the time, very much in the same sense as Space Port does today, but was intended to be nothing more than a floating platform acting as a landing stage, refuelling and relay/wireless station. 

However, in the context of the Atlantic Ocean a Seadrome about mid way between the two continents would open up the whole operation for flights with lower risk and more frequency. Various feasibility studies were carried out by engineers and inventors and the first three decades saw a rush to register Patents for what were not wholly dissimilar structures. A Canadian design was for a platform 1200 feet long and 500 feet wide at a height of 100 feet above sea level and a prolific Irish Engineer, F G Creed advocated a structure that would be able to stay level and steady in even the heaviest Atlantic swells. 

The scale of the floating Seadromes was meant to accommodate conventional take offs and landings but gradually the term became associated with Flying Boats. In the second world war there were proposals to develop Seadromes at regular intervals around the British Coast for strategic purposes. 

In 1950 it was the possibility of a flying boat service linking Kingston Upon Hull to the likes of Scotland, Ireland, Southampton and Falmouth that received an enthusiastic response from Civic and Business Leaders in the Yorkshire Port City. 

For a place of its size and strategic importance as a Gateway to Europe the lack of an airport within the City catchment was seen as a major disadvantage. There had been an airfield at Hedon which had been well patronised and with links to the Pioneering Amy Johnson in the inter war era and it would not be until 1974 that Humberside Airport was developed on the former RAF base at Kirmington on the South Bank. 

There had been lobbying from the Hull Chamber of Commerce for an airport for many years and the idea of a Seadrome to serve a flying boat service was well supported. 

The sponsors of the idea were South Cornwall and Falmouth Airways Limited who proposed the use of Hythe aircraft which could carry up to 50 Passengers. The Hythe was a civilian version of the very versatile and battle proven Short Sunderland and well up to the task of coastal and cross country flights in the British Isles. 

A Hythe Flying Boat about 1950

The same company behind the tentative Hull Seadrome had already established a route from Leith, Edinburgh to the South Coast but a combination of high fare prices and low actual patronage had seen the initially promising service founder. 

No actual material details were formulated to progress the idea of a flying boat Seadrome in Hull even after the excitement and speculation about its benefits for the City and its regional commercial status.

Wide Eyed Pupils

I regularly enter competitions. My entries are entirely impulsive. 

There are opportunities every day in pop-ups whilst browsing the internet or attached to those e mails that get through my on-line security measures. 

Such is their frequency that I just do them automatically and give little thought to making a note of what I have entered. Perhaps I should realise by now that every entry is actually a full disclosure of my identity to some marketing company who will mercilessly sell these details on to the highest bidder. 

No wonder I get bombarded by offers of products and services that I cannot recall either needing or expressing any curiousness about. 

My most recent competition entry was for the first prize of a two day expedition of my choice with one of the UK's leading mountaineers. To their credit, the outdoor pursuit retailers who were the sponsors did send all entrants notification of the winner and I sincerely hope that Denise from wherever has a lovely weekend. 

There are two main forms of competition that I go for. 

The first is a straightforward entry that just involves disclosing my name and e mail address. This involves no skill whatsoever. The second has a simple multiple choice question basis but again demands little knowledge as the answer is so obvious when two of the three options are downright ridiculous. 

I have not, to date, won anything at all. I exclude the £100 voucher sent to me by a national clothing retailer from winning a regional raffle on the basis that it was not a real competition. I just had to buy something and post off the entry form. It was however the means by which I had a nice brand new suit in which to attend my father's funeral. 

I am aware that some people do make a nice living out of a professional approach to competitions and there are magazine publications which highlight which are the best odds to come away with a prize. I have always wanted to win a trolley dash around a supermarket or be showered in confetti at my local Tesco as the millionth shopper but such things happen to other folks and not me. 

Some winners are unaware of having entered a competition . 

Take as a prime example the recent good fortune of a Russian schoolboy, Ruslan Schedrin, aged 16. 

His appears to have been a typical teenage life, apart from a bit of work as a child actor, with studying for exams, mixing with friends and spending a bit of time on his video or computer console indulging in warfare and role playing. 

He lives at home with his mother and sister but upon hearing that he had won a prize to mark the 100,000th visitor to a website selling virtual arms for games they have not been able to share in his obvious delight. 

Mother and son are not so much making a stand against the relentless marketing of conflict and violence amongst the youth of the world but that Ruslan has won a month in a hotel with a Female Pornstar. 

His mother is in fact furious and feels that a monetary equivalent, about 100,000 Roubles,  would be more suitable as a competition prize than a potential temptation and corruptive influence. 

There are some issues of questionable morality in the prize offering but for the competition sponsors it has presented an unbelievable level of publicity on a global media scale. 

The baby faced Ruslan was initially sceptical and suspicious about the whole thing and was quoted as saying "I didn't believe it at first, I thought it was rubbish" but this sooned turned into unbelievable joy and excitement. 

Although his further comments may have lost a bit in translation from Russian into English they are along the lines of "I saw her and I liked everything, she has got good sizes....and so on. .....everything is boiling inside me". 

The young lady concerned, Ms Ekaterina Makarova is of the opinion that 16 is a good age to be independent. She is quite philosophical about the whole situation and appears to have adopted a pragmatic attitude to what could be seen as a very controversial few weeks. 

I doubt that Ruslan's mother will relent in her position and give permission but whatever the outcome Master Schedrin will be quite a popular chappie amongst his peer group.

English Lesson 19

So, already we are at the letter "S" in the compilation of definitions of English Words from the BBC Radio Series "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue" which has been producing such nonsense since 1972. The definitive list has been the labour of love of Kevin Hale, a Superfan of the show and I have dipped in and out of it shamefully exploiting his hard work.

The words and definitions are confusing enough and I apologise, again, to any Students of the English Language amongst my readers for adding mayhem and misdirection to their struggle.

There is, understandably, some political incorrectness and a lot of toilet humour present but please remember that the words and meanings do date back some considerable years to an era when people just spoke their mind with no sympathy or empathy for the offence that may have been caused at the time and subsequently.

I like to think that we are better for the experience of such things and much more in tune with others. S is a particularly prolific letter.

Saxophone- hotline to a major salt producer

Shambolical- padded underpants 

Sanctity - droopy bosom

Sycamore- not as well as I used to be

Sweet Trolley- the art of seduction of Trolls

Stylist- directory of pigs

Stalactite- drunken prisoners of war

Shingle- Sean Connery's opinion of what a bachelor is

Scooby Doo- responsible dog owner

Supercede- sperm sample from Clark Kent

Spectacular- a short sighted vampire

Shellfish- a bit like a shelf

Shampoo- a fake literary bear

Suffocation- a holiday in Lowestoft

Superfluous- we went on holiday with super airlines

Sycophant-much prefer Dec

Splinter- Chinese 100m athlete

Subjudice- Israeli underground railway

Synagogue- that look on seeing porn for the first time

Scum- it has arrived

Sex- what the Queen gets her coal delivered in

Shitzu- a crap animal park

Stifling = country dancing for Scottish pigs

Shrewd- a rude shrew

Sorcerer- even more than a saucer

Surcharge- cash for questions

Scullery- a place for head hunters to keep their trophies

Stalagmite- a prison for fleas

Shamrock- a polystyrene boulder

Skid Marks- racing driver brother of Groucho

Secular- junk mail in Liverpool

Satire- lots of cushions

Sewage- payment for a lawyer

Scandal- footwear to be ashamed of

Substitute- underwater hooker

Satellite- setting fire to your bum

Sedate- but meant nine

Shallot- no more onions

Shambles- imitation brambles

Star Struck- transport for the stage show of Kylie Minogue

Stopcock- condom

Strawberry- a grass hat

Smirks- cigarettes in Newcastle

Semolina- signalling with a pudding

Systematic- a robot nun

The Hit Man and him and him and him and him

 The Nanning Intermediate People's Court issued a final sentence on the prosecution of intentional homicide on five professional Hit-Men .

 Xi Guangan,

Yang Kangsheng,

Yang Guangsheng,

Mo Tianxiang, and

Ling Xian,

The principal defendant behind the idea of the Hit was a businessman Tan Youhui

 In October 2013, Tan Youhui was worried that his investment in a real estate company in Guangxi and a real estate company in Nanning would lose money, so he ordered the defendant Xi Guangan to hire a killer to get rid of one of the perceived loss-inducing individuals , Wei. 

 In turn the first appointed Hit Man, Xi Guangan delegated the task to Mo Tianxiang to conduct a specific act of hiring a murderer to kill Wei. Tan Youhui later provided a copy of Wei's ID card, telephone number, and license plate number to Xi Guangan, and Xi Guangan provided the above information to Mo Tianxiang. 

 The defendant used 2 million yuan as a reward for hiring a murderer and this was handed over in cash to Xi Guangan in Litang Town, Binyang County to progress the homicide.

 By way of delegation down the Hit Man hierarchy an amount of ten thousand yuan was handed over to Mo Tianxiang. 

 In April 2014,  the initially appointed Hit Man, Xi Guangan proposed to the defendant the need to add 1 million yuan to the funds in homicide remuneration.

 It was agreed but would only be paid out after the Hit had been successfully carried out. 

Percolating down the Hit Man chain in that same month, Mo Tianxiang himself hired the services of another Hit Man,Yang Kangsheng to manage the act of killing Wei and handed over 270,000 yuan, a white mobile phone with a picture of Wei, and a note with a license plate number so that there would be no mistaken identity.

 He promised to give 500,000 yuan after the incident. 

 Whether Yang Kangsheng was too busy on other Hit Man business or just lazy he later found yet another member of the Hit Man brotherhood , Yang Guangsheng and promised to give 500,000 yuan after the incident was completed.

 Yang Kangsheng gave the items containing Wei information to Yang Guangsheng and 200,000 yuan. 

 Perhaps there was a reluctance on the part of Yang Guangsheng to carry through the Hit but he hired, yes- another Hit Man,  Ling Xian to kill Wei and promised to give him 100,000 yuan after the incident was completed. 

 Ling Xian agreed to kill Wei, and Yang Guangsheng handed the above-mentioned items containing Wei information to him.

 Afterwards, Ling Xian repented and decided to give up killing Wei.Instead he took it upon himself, more out of financial reward than conscience to approach the Hit Target and told him everything, no doubt hoping to double up his remuneration.

 In a similar cascading down to the Hit Men fees the defendant Xi Guangan was sentenced to three years and six months in prison, the defendants Yang Kangsheng and Yang Guangsheng were sentenced to three and three months in prison, the defendant Mo Tianxiang was sentenced to three years in prison, and the enterprising Ling Xian……. well, nothing is said about what happened to him.

Vote for Bidon

I admit to having scoured the verge of a rural roadway in search of plastic bottles. 

This sounds a bit Womble-ish in intent although I do have a genetic pre-disposition to pick up litter. It is an inherited trait from my late Father who earned a Civic Award for his dedicated work to keep the wonderful public open space of Beverley Westwood free from the detritus of its less than conscientious users. 

The plastic items I so earnestly seek are not litter but the discarded drink bottles of professional cyclists during a race. 

With a bit of steam sterilisation they make for good spares for those hot summer cycling runs although mindful of some potential value on E-Bay if branded and traceable to a particular Pro-Team or individual rider. 

The quality and durability of the bottles, or bidons, to give them their correct French name has improved significantly over the last 40 years of my kleptomaniac interest in them. There was always a risk of a hot setting on a dishwasher causing the plastic to melt and buckle out of any recognisable shape. 

For such a simple container the bidon has actually gone through quite a development process to the current high-tec versions. 

Any cyclist knows the importance of keeping the body hydrated. There can be a dramatic and unsettling drop off in performance if fluids lost to sweat and effort are not rapidly replaced. This was evident to the participants in the formative years of competitive cycling but what was available to them? In the early years of the Tour de France, first run in 1903, the riders used leather satchels strapped to their handlebars containing drinks in glass bottles. The contents could be anything from plain water to brandy or a concoction which, applying current standards, may not have escaped the attentions of post-race Doping Control.  

Carrying glass bottles imposed hazards over and above those imposed by pot holed roads, enthusiastic and sometimes hostile roadside supporters and less than reliable equipment. 

In one of my favourite cycling films, "Stars and Water Carriers", a documentary of the 1973 Giro D'Italia, the domestique members of the Pro teams can be seen raiding Bars and Cafes on the Stage Routes  with the approval of their proprietors and emerging with bottles of wines and spirits to supplement the bidon reserves. 

A natural progression of the bidon was to metallic form with aluminium favoured for lightness and with a leather or cork stopper. These were still handlebar mounted for ease of use, typically in an aluminium cage, to take two bottles. A spring mounted clip held the bottles in position to prevent displacement on a bumpy road which could be easily released to allow removal. 

There must have been a noticeable effect on the handling of the bike from this front end loading with a risk of imbalance and fatigue from keeping control of the handlebars over a prolonged race distance. 

A Tour de France rider in the inter-war period, Rene Vietto is credited with the innovation of the down tube bottle cage, the format that is still adopted today. 

During the 1939 TdF Vietto secured a bottle on the downtube of his racing bike in addition to the conventional bar mounted one. He noticed that this lowered his bike's centre of gravity and improved handling to a tangible effect. 

It was not until the 1950's with the recovery of competitive cycling in a war-decimated Europe that all Professional riders took to using the downtube mounting. As a spin off from wartime innovations there were also better quality plastics and synthetic materials for the manufacture of bidons and squeezable versions emerged.

Science in sport perceptions of taking on adequate and suitable fluids also saw bottle cages being mounted on the seat tube. The increase in the commercial aspects of elite cycling, and in particular merchandising saw the humble bidon in mass production as a marketing give-away or event souvenir. 

The sight of riders ejecting their used bottles across the carriageway and into the spectators in the last few miles of a race is followed by a mass scramble for enthusiasts and collectors to secure them for re-use for which they are ideally suited or to profit through sale on the internet. 

My own scavenging attempts have secured a few good and sturdy bidons which I have kept and have given a good few years of service. 

These date from the old Milk Race, Tour of Britain and some of the perennial one day classic races on local roads. 

I have also bought trade team branded bidons although in regular use the overprinted logo's eventually fade and vanish. 

The newest versions represent the cutting edge of water bottles with up to double the capacity of its predecessors and an easier to use retractable nozzle. There can be issues around adequate cleaning as a ring of mould or residues found under the nozzle can be a bit unappetising even if a slaking thirst has to be satisfied whilst out pounding the roads. The contents? 

Unadulterated water is perfectly fine although I am now using it to wash down supplements and high energy gels. 

Worst mistake, well that must be diluted Complan arising from a  misguided youthful idea that a vitamin and fortifed drink to offset the effects of diarrhoea could serve as rocket fuel to my cycling aspirations.

Water Wars in East Yorkshire

We take for granted, in this country, the availability of clean and safe water. 

It's just there in the tap and on demand. 

This is in stark contrast to many parts of the world where there are significant issues over water supplies in terms of volume and quality and with all of the risks to health that arise. 

Under the emerging threat of climate change we can expect the security and dependability of water supplies to be a catalyst for conflict in many regions. 

This was certainly the state of affairs in England in the Middle Ages and in particular in and between the occupants of settlements close to the Port Town of Kingston Upon Hull. 

There is a Civic Information Display in the village of Cottingham, which sits on the western boundary of Hull, telling the story of pitched battles, often with fatalities, as its population tried to prevent the folk from Hull from accessing their natural water sources or as we call them today- streams and ditches. 

It got to the stage of an Appeal being made to Rome by the Elders of Hull to try to prevent the villagers of Cottingham from either poisoning their neighbours or cutting off freshwater completely. 

The same sort of ill feeling and suspicion persisted in the East Yorkshire area for centuries and in the 1840's this brought about some decisive actions by the Town Council of Beverley, the well to do historic town just to the North of Hull. 

Under a self taxation measure amongst its residents a Committee of Sewers was formed to investigate the condition of the existing foul drainage arrangements. The main conduit for sewage and waste was into the watercourse of Beverley Beck, itself an important area with industrial and ship building employment along its banks. 

However, the Beck flowed out into the River Hull and this led, downstream to the reservoirs and water supplies serving the much larger urban population of the town of the same name. 

A Parliamentary Bill to allow waters to be drawn for the people of Beverley had been vociferously opposed because of the very real possibility of sewage from Beverley entering the large Hull reservoirs at Stoneferry. 

There were justifications for this. 

The Committee found that a reservoir at Potter Hill Bridge had not been cleaned out for at least 30 years and was a major source of mud and filth entering the Beck. The description of "receptacles of the greatest nuisance" accumulated in the water conjurs up all kinds of horrific images of insanitary and unhealthy items. It was proposed that a new reservoir be created and cleaned out at least twice yearly. 

In order to stop the passage of weeds and rubbish an iron gate and grille was installed. 

This saw some quite rapid improvement in the water quality entering the River Hull from the Beck and flowing downstream to what the Beverley folk referred to as "our aquatic neighbours".

The initiation of the Committee of Sewers and the resultant plan for improvements was regarded by the Council as being an example of amazing social progress although cleaning up the foul outfalls was evidently, given their poor upkeep and maintenance, an obligation and not a concession. 

This elitist and self promoting attitude persisted and there were expectations that such an exceedingly kind and neighbourly act was deserving of the lasting gratitude of the people of Hull and that some form of reciprocal benefit was expected. 

To some extent these undertones of social friction continue to the present day between Beverley and Hull although to those who have lived and worked in these places these are completely unfounded. 

Royal Flush

In 1854 the City of Kingston Upon Hull finally came off a Monarchical Blacklist, albeit an unsubstantiated one, and felt the Civic Pride that goes with hosting a Royal Visitor in the personage of Queen Victoria herself and her entourage. 

This marked a period of 215 years of being by-passed, fobbed off and ignored by nine almost successive Rulers (interspersed by the Cromwell Commonwealth years) which for a major Port Town and place of regional and strategic importance will have caused the Elders and the well-to-do of Hull to ask why this was the case. 

Of course the event of 1639 when the citizens of Hull denied access to its Armoury to King Charles the First which effectively marked the beginning of the English Civil War established in the minds of  successive Royal Houses that there was a healthy mistrust of those who claimed the Divine Right over the population in this corner of the country. 

It had not always been that way. 

In 1293 Edward the First on his way back from a campaign in Scotland called to stay at Baynard Castle in Cottingham. Whilst hare coursing along the banks of the River Hull he recognised the merits of the point of convergence with the Humber Estuary. He is said to have questioned local shepherds about the depth, tides and ownership of the shoreline before approaching the Monks of Meaux and initiating a land swop with them so that he could promote the idea of a fortified town and a secure harbour. So was born Kings Town Upon Hull, shortened to Kingston Upon Hull. 

In 1300 Edward returned and pronounced Hull to be a most handsome town. The crossing of the Humber between Barton and Hessle to reach Hull was charged at thirteen shillings. 

In 1332 Edward the Third arrived at the town for an unspecified purpose but then again he was monarch and did not need to justify himself over anything he wanted to do. 

It was another 67 years before Henry the Fourth approached the town having made a landing by ship at the port of Ravenspurn to the east. The Mayor of Hull, John Tutbury, at the news of the visitor ordered that the bridges be raised, the town gates closed and the townsfolk put on notice to arm themselves. This was a point blank refusal to welcome the Royal Party. 

Relations with the House of Tudor were much more amenable by the time of Henry the Sixth and he was warmly welcomed for a 4 day stay in 1448 during which he approved of the fortifications. 

Looming in the years following was the Wars of the Roses that was a series of sporadic battling from 1455 to 1485 between the Houses of Lancaster and York. 

Hull became a bit of a pawn in the power struggle on a couple of occasions in the Wars which emphasised its strategic importance although even to the present day its location on the eastern edge of England has meant a perception of remoteness and separation from the rest of the country. 

In 1464 one of the contenders in what amounted to a Proxy Civil War, Edward the Fourth made a surprise visit to Hull in a bid to secure the town in the knowledge that Henry the Sixth could mount a rival campaign. Edward made sure he came back mob handed in 1471 when he brought an army of 2000 men. It is not clear what actually transpired but it seems that Edward felt that he was not welcome in Hull and so marched past the walls to the nearby town of Beverley. 

The eventual inheritance of the Lancastrian claim by The House of Tudor led to the illustrious and controversial reign of Henry the Eighth. 

In a bit of a fawning and embarrassing action the representatives of the people of Hull persuaded Henry to stay for a few days which was a bit of a deviation from his planned journey from London to York in August 1541. This entailed an official delegation meeting the Royal party at the boarded bridge near Newland and a show of allegiance and loyalty involving a lot of kissing of the Kings White Rod before processing to the Beverley Gate entrance to the town. 

The King stayed for three days at the Manor Hall and his royal coffers were swelled by a gift of £100 (£85000 in todays money). 

Henry the Eighth must have thought he had found a bit of a cash cow as he invited himself back to Hull in the following month. 

In that time he was pretty busy in meddling and mischievous actions. 

His visit coincided with the campaigning by two Citizens for the position of Mayor. Henry put forward his own candidate and the outcome was a foregone conclusion. He also proposed construction of a new castle and blockhouse to modernise the fortifications and a new dyke from Newland to Kingston. 

These political and civil engineering feats were nothing however compared to Henry's penchant for affairs of the heart. 

He had heard that Lord Wake, who was the occupant of Baynard Castle (a host castle for Edward the First in 1293) had a most beautiful wife. He invited himself to dine at the Castle but his intentions were thwarted by the destruction of the place in a momentous fire within a matter of hours of his announcement. The perpetrator was actually Lord Wake himself who had done it out of fear that his wife would be the centre of unwelcome attention from the philandering monarch. 

To his credit the King offered the sum of £2000 (£1.8 million in todays money) for the reconstruction but this was never taken up, naturally to avoid being beholden and therefore susceptible to a sort of indecent proposal scenario. 

So fast forward through history to the arrival at the town walls of the beleagured Charles the First in 1639. 

In a huge tantrum at not being welcomed or admitted to Hull Charles is reputed to have urged the townspeople to "fling the traitor over the wall, throw the rebel in the ditch" referring to his adversary, Sir John Hotham. 

This began the fall from Royal favour of Kingston Upon Hull until 1854 when the long awaited opportunity arose to express loyalty and allegiance to a ruling monarch. 

Cross Party Politics

How far would you go to try to prove something?  

Yes, it would be important to go that extra mile if it were a matter of life or death, similarly if an issue of morality, principle and ethics but what about trying to demonstrate that the Romans could walk across a major UK river......or in the case of Rufus Noel-Buxton a total of three of the major watercourses. 

Over a couple of years in the early 1950's this Labour Member of the House of Lords put himself and his academic credentials to the test in attempts to ford, in this order, The Thames, Humber and Severn rivers. 

His London exploit was from St Thomas's Hospital to Speakers Stairs but in a self professed miscalculation of tide times he could only complete the challenge by swimming the last section. 

His Yorkshire endeavour in August 1953 attracted large crowds on the Banks of the Humber . On the north side the venue was Brough Haven. 

This starting point had strong Roman associations having been an important harbour for supplying the occupying forces in York and farther North as well as, in the opinion of Noel-Buxton being the point to cross on foot, horse or wagon from Ermine Street, a major Roman Road from the South on any onward journey in the service of the Empire. 

The Humber attempt was not without dangers. 

There was a strong spring ebb tide but the date and time had been selected as the best to take advantage of a lower water level than normal neap tides but at the same time these would generate more of a current. 

The distance for the crossing was shortened to around one and a quarter miles because of the existence of a 100 yard wide deep water shipping channel and Noel Buxton was to be taken over this in a boat before making an official start from a large sandbank before heading towards Whitton Ness on the Lincolnshire side. 

In terms of equipment all that was carried was a pole with an aluminium base to help him keep his feet and take soundings for any potential traps or snags , a series of white flags to indicate his progress, a lifejacket and a reliable compass. 

A rescue boat was in the area if the forder got into any difficulties.

A main obstacle was negotiating the swift running water in the channels closer to the south bank but unlike his London adventure Noel Buxton did not have to resort to any emergency swimming to get out of a tight spot. 

The whole event was captured by a newsreel cameraman and overhead a helicopter and several planes such was the level of public interest. 

The triumphal landfall was over cloying and heavy mud but the 6 foot 3 inch tall Peer made it look easy. He later gave his account of the exploit and that although at times he was wading through water above his hips the overall going had been good. 

The special knack was to keep moving as any hesitation meant a rapid sinking into the unseen river bed. 

In all Noel Buxton felt that he had indeed demonstrated that in ancient times this was indeed the place to ford the mighty Humber. 

What do the best dressed river crossing Peers wear on such occasions? Of course, grey flannels, an ordinary shirt, a wind cheater and sand shoes. 

Bonfire Night Reminiscence

I often think of Robin Folkard, a friend who died young.

It is mainly out of a feeling of my own mortality that comes with getting old.

My thoughts and memories of Robin were strong today because I was working in the Leeds area and that was where we did a charity bike ride one year. 

Usual thing, no preparation in terms of fitness or nutrition and with a last minute pumping up of  the tyres being the only real bit of bicycle maintenance. Charity Ride or global expedition, we would have probably had the same approach because we both just loved cycling.

In matching team jerseys we set off amongst the thousand or so participants. Coming from the very flat Hull we soon began to struggle on the slightest incline, be it a railway bridge, trunk road flyover or the actually very undulating topography that is encountered when travelling north west out of Leeds city centre. It was sure going to be a tough day for us bog dwellers.

Fortunately there was a large enough contingent of stragglers on shopper bikes, pensioners on trikes and children on two wheeled pink things to keep us company. I do not think that we had bothered to study the route to forewarn us of the difficult bits or even knew how far it was around the circuit which eventually finished back outside the grand Victorian Town Hall.

After a long climb, bisecting the ring road we enjoyed the brief respite of a plummeting descent into Wharfedale accompanied by feet off the pedals and some daft shrieks of elation but abruptly ended by a sheer climb up the other side of the valley. We were keeping pace side by side quite well although it was a bit disorientating being passed by brisk walking pedestrians.

The event was well marshalled and with regular roadside checkpoints providing energy drinks and water. Notwithstanding the physical effort it was also a blisteringly hot day and we were suffering badly. There was some natural shade on the minor roads as they passed under the thick full canopies of trees but the air was so still and the air hot and stifling. It was not a good time to find out that the jerseys, very flash and glossy with sponsor logos were not of breathable material. We would have been better off wearing black dustbin bags. An interesting clinical experiment in fluid loss and the debilitating and wasting effects of dehydration it could have been. 

Our faces, streaming with perspiration gradually took on a well tanned  hue being a combination of airborne dust, insects and a salt crust. With some disappointment and dismay we were informed by a high-viz wearing official that we were about half way around the course. Our legs, lungs and stamina had already decided to give up but we had no option than to carry on. Out of adversity we both found our second wind although this was actually as a direct consequence of reaching the fast downhill return leg to the centre of Leeds.

Some recumbent bikes shot past us with their flagpole masts flapping as they hit a low gravity version of 50mph. Suddenly envigorated by sight of the finishing straight Robin and me snuck into the slipstream of these strange machines. Whether out of fatigue or from the glare of the plate glass shop windows I was convinced that a speed camera had captured us in full flight. This was probably discarded during the processing stage as a technical glich. It was just not possible for two raggedy looking men to attain such speeds and the Crown Prosecution Service would surely implode under the pressure of trying to pursue an action in such a case.

For our charitable endeavours we got a medal on a bright stripey ribbon, a certificate with which to cajole those who had pledged monies to part with it for the good cause and some sunburn. We were silent in the car on the way home but we were both thinking that maybe the Tour de France was that bit more within our sticky mitted grasp. Delusion can be a sympton of sheer exhaustion  amongst us sporty types.

The Bonfire Night phone call with the news that Robin had died after a short illness had  a massive impact on all who knew him. Lesley and the two boys asked me to look after Robins treasured bikes and I was and remain honoured to do this in his memory. They sit in my garage keeping my own cycles company and from time to time I wheel them out to get some warmth of the sun. 

Robin, after our cycling exploit showed another of his many skills by producing a wonderfully evocative water colour of the starting line of a bike race and that has pride of place in my living room and is a constant reminder of his great intelligence, wit and compassion. 

The Dogger Bank Incident 1904

In the October of 1904 a Russian Fleet of warships was cruising southwards in the North Sea en route to battle stations in the Far East where their country was at war with Japan. 

Although many thousands of miles from the theatre of operations there were rumours and a lot of speculation of a surprise attack by Japanese Torpedo Boats who were said to be on station near to the Danish Coast. 

Although a far fetched ideas given the distances involved for a Japanese Naval Force to be in European waters the commander of the Russian Fleet, Admiral Rojdestvensky had received orders from his Government to be particularly vigilant even on this first leg of the long journey. 

Intelligence reports gave details that Japanese Torpedo Boats often sailed under a mizzenhead light so that from a distance they could take on the guise of an ordinary fishing vessel. 

The area of the North Sea known as Dogger Bank was an important fishing ground for the activities of the Trawlers based in the English Port City of Kingston Upon Hull. 

Around the 21st of October there was a large collection of Hull Trawlers with their nets down deep in that vicinity as the Russian Fleet began to pass through. 

The Hull vessels were all displaying the correct navigational and identifying lights. 

As part of a service signal between the Trawlers a green coloured rocket was propelled skywards and this immediately attracted the suspicions of the inexperienced, excitable and already on-edge crew of the ironclad, Kniaz Swaroff. 

The Swaroff then discovered, close by, a vessel which they claimed was in complete darkness  and when picked out in a strong searchlight from the deck of the warship it was taken to be a torpedo boat. Fire was directed at the target. 

In manouevring to attack the Swaroff narrowly missed colliding with another small boat and this time the searchlight did identify the vessel as, without doubt, an unthreatening trawler. 

An order was immediately issued by Admiral Rojdestvensky to cease firing but by now the panic stricken Russian crews were firing wildly and indiscriminately at any thing seen to be moving on the ocean. Several ships in the fleet joined in. 

One Russian warship was reputed to have fired 500 shells but thankfully the gunnery was so innacurate that no hits were recorded. There were incidents of friendly fire causing damage within the Russian fleet and with some casualties reported. 

When the hysteria and mayhem eventually ceased the Hull Trawlers had suffered two deaths (one later from shock), six wounded, one vessel sunk and six others with shell fire damage. 

The Russians persisted in their claims after the event that there had been clandestine armed ships hiding within the pattern of working Hull Trawlers. 

Although Rojdestvensky was commended for calling off the action and thereby avoiding even more tragic consequences for the fishermen he made a rapid escape with the Russian Fleet towards the Straits of Dover leaving the British to mount their own rescue and salvage operation. 

The incident almost brought about a major conflict between Britain and Russia but the two countries agreed in 1905 for the International Commission in the Hague to investigate and produce a report on the Dogger Bank Incident. The official outcome was conciliatory towards the perpetrators even with the catalogue of chaos that had taken place against harmless, and unarmed fishing boats.

The fudging of the Commission meant that there was no escalation to war. 

The Russians paid compensation of £66000 to the fishermen and a Memorial Statue erected in 1906 still occupies a prominent position on Hessle Road, Hull where many of the generations of trawlermen lived. 

Hop, Skipsea and Jump

The road running west from the East Yorkshire village of Skipsea takes a few sharp turns, dips down to pass an often flooded low lying meadow and then climbs gently to enter Skipsea Brough, a tiny cluster of houses and a large man-made earthwork mound. 

This is what remains of the ancient Skipsea Castle. 

In the far distant era of Britons and Saxons the 70 foot high upturned pudding bowl of ground was known as Albemarle Hill and was marked by a succession of Motte and Bailey wooden defences and structures.  

In the years following the Norman Invasion of England the site was gifted by William the Conqueror to one of his loyal followers and one who had fought alongside him at the Battle of Hastings- Drogo de la Beuvriere.. 

He was a Flemish soldier of fortune and with the royal endorsement as Lord of Holderness he built a castle out of beach gathered sea cobbles, a material that still features today in some of the traditional cottages in this part of Yorkshire. 

Such a building and on an elevated site will have dominated the landscape and served as a very strong symbol to the locals of the power of the invaders. 

As well as the grant of the title of Tenant in Chief in 1086 and lands which encompassed dozens of Manors in 156 locations in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and as far south as Suffolk and Leicestershire the opportunist Drogo was given the hand in marriage of the Lady Eleanor reputed to be young and beautiful and a niece of William the Conqueror himself. 

It is likely that there was quite a difference in ages between the two newly weds as well as a huge contrast between an uncouth warrior nobleman and an educated and genteel lady of the Norman Court. 

Whatever transpired in that cobbled walled fortress led to the tragedy of Eleanor dying before her time. The death was at first unexplained, possibly an accidental poisoning, but the consensus was that she had been murdered by her husband. 

At the news of this heinous crime William the Conqueror made a swift dash from York to Skipsea intent on exacting revenge on his former ally and supporter. However, Drogo had made his escape down the nearby Cleeton Lane to a North Sea Port at Hyde which was lost to the incessant coastal erosion of Holderness some time in the Middle Ages. From there he caught a boat to seek refuge from the wrath of the King in his Flemish ancestral home. There remains some mystery over his fate as he seems to have disappeared from the records in that year, 1087.

There is not a lot to see from the road through Skipsea Brough but many reports have been forthcoming about ghostly goings on in that vicinity and in particular the White Lady of Skipsea Castle. 

This is indeed thought to be the tormented spirit of the murdered Eleanor who,at certain seasons of the year and more frequently over the Christmas period, emerges with a stealthy abruptness from a hedge or bush. 

In the past she has been known to walk alongside cyclists or horse drawn vehicles no matter how fast they might be travelling. 

In some circumstances of the haunting Eleanor is seen to be headless causing horses to become disturbed and agitated. 

Finding my thrill without climbing anything

I can only imagine the scale of human effort and logistics that mean that on a whim, the merest fanciful thought or just one of those tummy rumbling moments I can find and buy Blueberries at any time on an all year round basis. 

I have become increasingly aware of the global production of what is now one of my favourite fruits in noticing the shifting pattern of "country of origin" on the cellophane wrapper of my usual £2 punnet purchase from my local supermarkets. 

It is possible to track the season and harvest that keeps me in Blueberries from growers in Eastern Europe, fringing the Mediterranean, into East Africa, across South America, up into North America and even from my own doorstep in the United Kingdom. 

Of course the small, blackish bluey matt , tightly formed berries have been around for centuries if not, from their  origins in the wild, millenia but they have only really become mainstream in my own lifetime. 

Commonly an ingredient in jams, yoghurts and used in baking their availability in raw and unwashed state for snack consumption is a relatively modern phenomena. 

In botanic terms the plant is a perennial flowerer and of the genus vaccinum. 

There are many different varieties arising from natural selection as well as those developed and engineered to improve taste, texture and yield. 

In an increasingly health conscious market the humble blueberry can truly be described as a "superfood". As well as having one of the highest antioxidant levels it displays properties that are proven to help the human condition, can contribute in other physiological ways and may have other far reaching benefits to health. 

In no particular order or provenance these include a low calorific value, a potential to slow ageing and susceptibility to cancer, improve brain function, inhibit cholesterol and lower blood pressure, repair muscle damage, prevent heart disease and assist in the urinary tract. #

I just like the sharp taste so any of the foregoing are a bonus. 

In the last year my blueberries have been sourced by the big retailers where I shop from Poland, Spain, Kenya, Dubai, Peru and the South of England representing a remarkably wide geographical spread which must to me indicate a fairly sturdy plant in terms of being able to cope with an equally wide range of climates. 

There are favoured soil conditions with best growth in a highly acidic soil, well aerated and drained. 

As well as the main supermarket suppliers the Blueberry is also grown for home markets in a number of other parts of the world. The largest producer, by some margin, is the United States followed by its neighbour, Canada and then Poland, Germany, Mexico, France, Scandinavia, other more distant parts of the former Communist Eastern Bloc and with emerging sources in South America and India. 

In the northern hemisphere the harvest period is mid July, in the North Americas from mid June to mid August, Mexico is from October to February and in Australia due to its size and climatic range it is possible for a blueberry harvest to be going on somewhere from July to the following April. 

This is only the beginning of the journey to reach my cereal bowl, mingle in my fruit salad and to be found in every bite through that midweek muffin down at the coffee shop. 

I am thankful to all of those who make this possible.