The City and Country...

Licenced today in the ‘end of month’ rush: the Wetherspoon pub - the City and Country - in Goole. This roundabout, topped with a clock-tower, is where six roads meet. Goole was a planned town, built on a grid system, though a lot of the more interesting buildings have either been demolished or repurposed (the pub used to be a bank). Goole has an interesting past and, no doubt, a prosperous future, because of the new industrial zone being built between the town and the motorway. Today, though, it’s just another defeated northern town with a hollowed-out high street…

The Butchers Dog...

Saw a guy waiting for this Driffield pub to open, at noon today, so, after I got my pic, we had a couple of beers... and talked about all the other great pubs we'd visited over the years...

Ukraine...

According to a report in the Guardian, a witness in Ukraine said today: “There is no reason for Russian troops to be in our country, beyond the terrifying whim of an ageing autocrat”. Even captured Russian soldiers “don’t know why they are here”. The best hope, for halting the invaion of Ukraine, may lie with sheer weight of numbers: people all around the world who raise their voices in calling Putin to account.

Sanctions, yes. Closing Russian embassies, yes. Freezing the accounts of Russian oligarchs, who launder stolen money in London, yes. Even moving the Champion’s League final from St Petersburg to Paris, and Poland refusing to play Russia in the World Cup play-offs - done, and done - will contribute to the drip, drip, drip effect of concerted opposition to Russian expansionism. Putin and his cronies must be isolated and made aware that the whole world is horrified by what they're doing. 

A pic taken yesterday of the Yarborough Hunt, a characterful pub dating back to the 17th century, in Brigg, North Lincolnshire. If the building has an almost industrial facade, that’s because it used to be a brewery…

Isle of Mull...

Licenced today: Loch Scridain on the Isle of Mull…

Window cleaning...

Grace and poise from a window cleaner in Hull…

Hull footbridge...

It’s taken a while, but the fancy footbridge over the busy A63 road in Hull is now open for business…

It's a miracle...

Having lost a broad-brimmed hat, which kept the sun out of my eyes when taking pictures, I’ve been on the look-out for a replacement. Yesterday, while trawling the charity shops of Cottingham, I found it: another broad-brimmed hat, brand new, in dove grey, for just £2. I tried it on - a perfect fit - and parted with my money. So far, so unremarkable. But what if I insisted that this happy accident, this moment of retailing serendipity, was the act of a loving God who had heard - and answered - my prayers? Well, that’s the rationale of another charity-shop purchase, just 50p this time, of a book entitled Miracles of Answered Prayer. 

In more than a hundred brief accounts (all written in a suspiciously uniform style and format), people give thanks to the creator of the universe for car keys found, lost dogs returned, disasters averted and domestic dramas resolved. In one story a neighbour delivers a welcome bowl of stew when the writer is both ill and broke. Though it was the neighbour’s act of kindness which deserved gratitute, it was God who got the credit. The thoughtful neighbour was merely God's instrument.

Giving God the credit - when good things happen, or when bad things fail to happen - is setting the bar pretty low for what constitutes a ‘miracle’. I can see the superficial attraction of this kind of animistic thinking: summoning up a celestial supervisor who, having seen us struggling with everyday problems, decides to lend a hand. So maybe this is an inappropriate moment to point out that if we give an omniscient and omnipotent God the credit for the good things that happen, then he should also be held responsible for the bad.

Licenced today: Market Street in Dalton-in-Furness, one of those down-at-heel Cumbrian towns which attract no tourists (but which I rather like)…

Mercedes afloat...

Out with my camera today, though my progress was halted by the flood-waters of the River Aire at Allerton Bywater. A few people stopped, as I did, to take some pix, and share that most piquant of emotions: shadenfreude…

Ayscoughfee Hall...

Two pix, licenced yesterday, of the topiary gardens at Ayscoughfee Hall in Spalding, Lincolnshire…

Another bus...

It’s been a busy few days for my elderly neighbours, Dudley and Eunice, who live in a bungalow down the lane. It’s a strange time, too, for their grandchildren, Siri and Alexa. When they’re called in for their tea, the whole village goes into a digital meltdown…

Pictures of buses: you wait for weeks to sell one, then two pictures of buses sell at the same time…

Isle of Arran...

Licenced today: public transport on the Isle of Arran. I recall that the schemtatic map of the bus route, attached to the pole, was a model of simplicity: just a figure of eight. Most buses hug the contours of the coastline. If you stay on the bus for a couple of hours you will arrive back where you started...

Crickhowell...

So Prince Andrew has reached a settlement, for an undisclosed sum, in the civil sex claim filed by Virginia Giuffre, saying that he has agreed to make a “substantial donation” to Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights. He praised Giuffre’s bravery, and accepted that she “suffered as an established victim of abuse”, while expressing no remorse. “I remember her well”, said Andrew, nostalgically. “She gave me an incredible blowjob at every time of asking - whether it was in Epstein's New York town-house, Ghislaine's London flat or on Paedo Island - and for that I will always be grateful. I’m sorry, I’ve said too much”.

Licenced today: a long street of terraced houses in Crickhowell, Wales…

Far Sawrey...

Every day there are new recipes printed in the Guardian. Sometimes they whet my appetite, sometimes not. I don’t think I’ll be trying today’s offering - chickpea, chard and bread soup - while there are still a couple of stale crumpets in the bread-bin.

Licenced today: a guesthouse in the village of Far Sawrey, Cumbria…

Blasphemy...

According to an article on the Guardian website, a man has been stoned to death, and his body hung from a tree, after he was accused of burning a copy of the Quran inside a mosque. While the details of this tragic incident are sketchy, it comforms to a depressingly predictable pattern, in a country where blasphemy is still a capital crime. To be accused of blasphemy is to be convicted… not by a court of law, but by a mob of self-righteous citizenry who assume the right to be prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner. As the article acknowledges, “blasphemy accusations have often been used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal scores”.

The template for mob rule is firmly established in both the Bible and Quran. In a list of crimes which demand the death penalty (including adultery, homosexual acts and working on the sabbath), no legal mechanism is specified, to decide whether an accused person is innocent or guilty. The assumption is that the “men of the town” will interpret biblical and quaranic injunctions according to their own beliefs, and take the law into their own hands. Pakistani judges - and others - who have spoken out against the repressive blasphemy laws are routinely murdered. Among the populace in general the call is for the laws to be strengthened, not weakened. This is just one of the many reasons why Islam badly needs its own reformation (and why the implementation of sharia law, in any part of the UK, must be resisted)…

Nellie's...

The top pic is of the market square in Beverley, with the corn exchange at the back and outdoor seating where cars used to park. After a couple of hours taking pix, I called in at Nellie’s, on Hengate: one of the great unimproved boozers (bottom pic). The good news: it’s very atmospheric - or, some might say, gloomy - being lit by gas-mantle. There’s an open fire in every room, and there are plenty of rooms. The beer is very cheap. The bad news: it’s a Sam Smith pub, which means no swearing. And the beer, though cheap, is piss poor. Still a great pub, though…

Pocklington...

Something new today. I bought a huge fruit bowl decorated with hand-painted flowers: £2.99 from a charity shop in Pocklington. Every day I make delicious smoothies, with my fancy ‘Magic Bullet’ smoothie-maker, so there’s fruit all over the place (and now I know where to find it). Maybe some fruit-scented room deodorant would complete the illusion that the Old Sunday School is a proper home, not just a squalid man-cave.

There was always fruit in a bowl on the sideboard when I was growing up, though, beyond an apple a day (“to keep the doctor away”) we kids weren’t really encouraged to eat it. Mum often preferred to hide fruit - rather than, say, buy some more - which is why anyone venturing to clean behind the fridge might discover a bag of Florida oranges that had turned a luminous green, or some bananas reduced to a brown mush. 

A graceful dismouth in Pocklington today...

Women's cricket...

Since the Aussies retained the Ashes two games ago, there was nothing to play for, during the last two one-day internationals, except pride (and the opportunity to nail down a place in the team for the forthcoming World Cup in New Zealand). So God only knows why England, having won the toss and decided to bat, treated yesterday’s game like a net session, scoring at little over two runs an over. That’s not enough to win any game, least of all against a very good Australian side. With the England women looking like they didn’t even want to compete, the result was never in doubt, which made a 50-over game a rather dull watch (it certainly didn’t keep me awake).

Nevertheless, according to the Women’s Sport Trust, women’s sport has bucked the trend of declining TV viewing hours and amassed a total audience of almost 32.9 million people last year, with football and cricket the biggest beneficiaries. The figures show that there really is an appetite for women’s sport, and that’s very good news. I just hope the England team don’t get caught up with all the hype. They came off second-best to the Aussies in every aspect of the game: batting, bowling, fielding and catching. More practice needed, I reckon, and a more dynamic approach to the game.

Licenced today: the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the River Avon in Stratford-upon-Avon…

Press Association...

Bridgegate in Howden is where we find the Yorkshire headquarters of the Press Association (now called the PA Media Group), the organisation which now owns Alamy. The old guy on the mobility scooter is delivering a scoop: “Mafeking relieved”. Well, it was a scoop when he set off...

Broad Leys...

Licenced last week: Broad Leys, the clubhouse of the Windermere Motor Boat Racing Club (designed by architect Charles Voysey, and built in 1898)...

Shotwell Tower...

Well, you learn something new every day. I’ve photographed the tidal reaches of the River Hull on many occasions, often - as here - from the Scale Lane footbridge. Thanks to Google I’m now aware that the building which dominates the scene is Shotwell Tower, built for making lead shot using the drop method. The process was patented in 1782 by Bristol plumber William Watts, who realised that if drops of molten lead fall far enough through the air into water they become spherical: a significant improvement on the shape and quality of lead shot produced by casting…

Dedham Vale...

If history is "written by the victors", then it's unlikely that the author of this biblical passage was a Hittite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite or Jebusite…   

“When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby. However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God”. (Deuteronomy 20:10–18).

Licenced today: a green lane in Dedham Vale, Essex… 

Ashes retained...

At the first opportunity the Aussie lasses have retained the Ashes, so the last two one-day games will be played for pride and pleasure alone. It’s nevertheless been good to watch the games on my laptop, as I drifted in and out of sleep. The single test match was brilliant, with fortunes going first this way, then that. I hope it will encourage the ECB to arrange more women’s test matches (five days, not four, please), and encourage more punters to turn up and watch. The next women’s test match may come this summer, somewhere in England, against South Africa.

Licenced today: a woman window shopping in the little Cotswold town of Broadway… 

The presumption of innocence...

Though the presumption of innocence is a cornerstone of our legal system, some people are being punished even before their case has been heard. Prince Andrew has lost his royal titles, even though he won’t appear in court until September. A Manchester United player has been dropped by his sponsors after he was arrested - and subsequently bailed - on a charge of rape. And Woody Allen, accused of molesting his adopted daughter, Dylan, has been cleared - twice - of any wrongdoing. Nevertheless, a number of actors have said they would not work with him again (Wallace Shawn, who appears in Allen’s latest film, has pointed out that the director has not been found guilty of any crime). If we continue to make pre-emptive assumptions about a person’s guilt, then we’re heading back to the era of witch trials, kangeroo courts and mob rule: AKA “the court of public opinion”.

Selby Abbey, licenced today…

Clever crows...

Crows are being recruited to pick up discarded cigarette butts from the streets and squares in the city of Södertälje, near Stockholm. According to Christian Günther-Hanssen, the founder of Corvid Cleaning, “They are wild birds taking part on a voluntary basis”. For every cigarette butt deposited in a specially designed receptacle, the crows receive a morsel of food. If the pilot scheme is successful - and reduces the cost of keeping the streets clean - it will be rolled out across the city. Tomas Thernström, a waste strategist at Södertälje municipality, said “It would be interesting to see if this could work in other environments as well. Also from the perspective that we can teach crows to pick up cigarette butts but we can’t teach people not to throw them on the ground. That’s an interesting thought,”.

Licenced today: people gathering in Humber Street, Hull, a gentrified thoroughfare, adjacent to the marina, with many trendy shops and bars…