T.K. Maxx - Thumbs Down!

Have you TIME to shop here??

I am fairly easy going when it comes to shopping, I am quite happy wandering round stores hunting for bargains, checking rails for anything 'buyable'. It does tend to be like a rather large 'jumble sale experience', shopping in T.K. Maxx with clothes dotted all over the already crammed store. Access with wheelchairs and buggies is impossible down the narrow aisles full of trolleys spewing clothes. If you are an unusual size.....very small or very big T.K. Maxx is like an Aladdin's Cave, although you have to hunt for standard sizes. I have found that if you are patient and are prepared to rake....you WILL get yourself a super bargain...

Most parents like myself, tend to drop children at school and then make a quick dash to the town to shop, childless and stress free. Time is ALWAYS limited and always precious. I shall NEVER shop first thing in the morning at T.K. Maxx in St Stephen's Shopping Centre, Hull again.

Can you believe how ridiculous this is..... the changing rooms do not open until 10.30 am in the morning!!!! Have I missed something here, isn't this a clothes shop, selling to the public, and opening at 9.00 am? What an absolutely ludicrous situation. When I asked an assistant, the curt reply was Head Office were not prepared to put extra staff on for this purpose???? The assistant also very professionally told me that "I need to go to the toilet" !!!!! (did I really need to now that!)

So me and my trolley load of bargains never made it to the changing rooms, or the unmanned tills, my money was better spent in Dorothy Perkins.

Thumbs DOWN T.K. Maxx.

Not a pleasant shopping experience.

Love Local *NEWLAND AVENUE*, Hull

The Love Local Scheme

2nd May 2009

Newland Avenue Fun Day

Kingston Upon Hull

Seventy traders signed up for a new *Love Local* campaign kicking off with a colourful fun day, in beautiful sunshine on Newland Avenue, Hull. Here are just a few photos of the fab street entertainment.

The event run by the Community Church on Newland Avenue has its own website.. http://www.lovelocal.org.uk/ for more information. If you shop on Newland Avenue you MUST take a look.

Strolling up and down the Avenue people dressed in wacky costumes...like this!

Raphael, Sally and I had come specifically to watch a group of Cheerleaders, named THE HONEYS. They danced their energetic routine outside Piper Club, the weather was just perfect.

The music was loud, the crowd were happy and the girls had fun. Nice one HONEYS!

Rounding off the afternoon, 70 golden balloons were released with people given the chance of winning £200 of shopping vouchers. The wind was strong and gusty and the balloons snaked up the side of The Piper Club and away into the distance very quickly.

The aim of this event was to promote the businesses lining Newland Avenue, by providing a loyalty scheme and discounts to compete with the local supermarkets. I wholeheartedly support this attempt to preserve the "English Local" and I too *Love my Local* and shall continue to shop on NEWLAND AVENUE, HULL.

Kingston Upon Hull - Youtube Style

Kingston Upon Hull

Youtube Style

Youtube rocks, I love to watch others videos, particularly quality ones like this.

An excellent production giving a great representation of the city I live in. Out of all the videos produced about Hull I think this one gives a wonderfully fair all round view, including all the worthy areas of interest. Although a little dated the video has allowed for the passage of time and thoughtfully included digital imagery of future developments.

Gwenap, Princes Avenue, Hull

"Sex in the City"!

Gwenap an institution, an icon in Hull, perched at the top of Princes Avenue, adjacent to the junction of Spring Bank.

A place that has 'always' been there as far back as I can remember, just a little shop in the background of my youth until I reached adulthood.

Our social circles at the time would talk teasingly about Gwenap and what they sold! I discovered that Gwenap was a high class knicker shop selling kinky trinkets and naughty underwear. Over the years the shop displayed large provocative banners across the entrance. Some very blatant and all to see very clearly whilst waiting in cars for the lights to change onto Princes Avenue. They are still doing so today, just like the picture above alternative words used in the past such as:- "Knickers to the lot of you", "Bent Politicians welcome here"!

In the eighties apart from Midland Street sex shop, Gwenap appearred to be the only other shop selling anything 'sexual'. Several times over the years I noticed the windows were broken and boarded. Perhaps angry feminists on the rampage felt Gwenap was inappropriate for the times. In all the years living in this area, I can only claim to have shopped there once. I bought chocolate nipples, hilarious at the time! Something like these!

Gwenap can claim they are the longest established retailer of underwear, pleasurewear and adult items in the country. They have their own website, presumably in a way of replacement for the oh so famous Gwenap Flyer, Hull's own adult contact mag many moons ago.

Today sex shops seem to come and go, the largest to my knowledge is on Mount Pleasant, sort of supermarket set up, car parking and 2 floors of goodies.

The laws of the land and the economic climate keep changing effecting every shop in different ways, Gwenap appear to be no exception, I was rather distressed to see the current banners in the window. What does this mean?? Is Gwenap closing for good? I would be surely sad if they do, not because I shop there but because Gwenap is part of Hull's heritage, has survived many social setbacks over the years, and is still here to tell the tale.

Da Gianni - A Great Place to Dine in Hull

.....a culinary pleasure in Italian all round dining

Da Gianni - 48 Princes Avenue,

Kingston-Upon-Hull HU5 3RX

I had not really noticed this place before, tucked away on Princes Avenue. Hannah, our good friend and babysitter had mentioned Da Gianni in the past but I had not really paid much attention (shame on me!).

By pure coincidence, the Saturday evening we had arranged for Hannah to babysit, we spent that morning with two of the restaurants' employees....who just happened to be parents of one of Raffi's nursery school friends, lovely Melanie. We had chatted in the morning about the restaurant and I thought it would be perfect to take Eric there for a meal. We both adore Italian food and this place was not to far from home and fortunately they had a table available for us.

My first impression was WOWWW, really, the sight that greeted me can only be described as ten foot leaping flames either side of the entrance door. Spectacular and certainly a "head turner" for the numerous people frequenting this cosmopolitan area of Hull. Always known for its cafe bar culture, many pubs and general rowdiness and increasing at an alarming rate. The crowds were overspilling onto the pavements giving an almost Mediterranean feel (apart from the weather that is!!). Great for the regular diners and drinkers but I guess not so great for the locals living close by.

Da Gianni have got it just right. They ARE imitating the Mediterranean outdoor eating, cafe bar culture, and successfully beating the weather with huge magnificent outdoor heaters. Absolutely perfect for free advertising as people have to look..well done Da Gianni.

Once inside, ten minutes earlier than our booking time of nine oclock, it turned out to be no problem for the staff and sat down immediately at a spacious table near the bar. The restaurant operated 2 sittings, one at seven and one at nine. The seven o'clock diners were just finishing, there was a warm level of noise with piped music and gentle chatter.

By nine thirty the place was virtually full of noisy yelling people. It was a nice atmosphere but not really good for intimate conversation.

The service excellent, as was the food, certainly worthy of A class Council rating, not B class as quoted on the door!

The waiters, very attentive, all male, but not Italian!

The outdoor area with its leaping flames was truly amazing to see from the roadside. It was even better experienced close up. We stood outside and people watched whilst our food was being prepared, enjoying the warmth from the massive heaters. You could have imagined very clearly somewhere with sunnier climes, the only difference was that all the girls in their summer frocks were catching a major chill from the British weather in the pub outside next door!

Nice one Da Gianni what a great way to make the heads turn.

Now to the food, very quickly our plentiful food arrived, piping hot and looked extremely appetising. Although I did think the green salad was rather unimaginative along side such splendid dishes of Prawns, Mussels, Pate, Pizza and Lasagna. This was merely a minor point... the superb taste of all the dishes far outweighed this small niggle.

We drank red wine and vodka and our bill was under £50.00, very reasonable we thought.

I was pleasantly surprised at their professional website, their food certainly lives up to their quality advertising on and off the web.

http://www.dagianni.co.uk/

I would certainly recommend Da Gianni restaurant and I have heard the take away two doors down is just as good.

Enjoy your meal!

Adult Learning in Hull

Me and My Camera

Cherry Blossom

I have always enjoyed photography from a very early age, the age when you sent your films away in the post to be developed!

Beautiful Nerja, Spain

I have progressed through the years snapping happily, lots of holidays, special occasions, school functions etc etc.

Eric, The Man

At Christmas, Eric gave me the best camera I have ever owned, a Sony DSLR Alpha 350. My picture quality improved dramatically overnight with this wonderful camera.

Primroses in my garden

I have, in the past always tried to discover how to use my cameras completely, taking much time experimenting with them using all the dials and functions. This new camera however has way more gadgets and alien things attached!

Prawns in Bruge

Time to seek help. I enrolled on an Adult Education Course entitled Digital Photography, 10 weeks, but sadly has just finished.

The course was everything I could have hoped for and I learnt alot more than I expected. The course was a mix of practical work, taking photos, composing shots, learning how to look through the camera and then transferring photos to a PC and editing our creations with Serif Photo Editor. For some of the students the editing was too complex and the software the course used was too advanced.

The Mystery Machine

For me, I enjoyed learning again, discovering what more I can do with my camera. I know that what I have learnt I can apply to my own photography at home.

Photoshop Experiment

I am trialling Photoshop Elements 7 with the view to purchase. I certainly prefer this photo editing programme to Serif.

Scooby and Shaggy painted on Raffi's wall

My aim when I joined the course was to improve my skills, and I did, I am thirsty for more knowledge so will be enrolling for a more advanced course after Easter.

Spiderman is a big hero in our house

Adult Education in Hull is much and varied, looking online for local courses is a good starting point or just wait for the Adult Education glossy brochure to drop through your door like I did. I am glad I took a look.

Do you attend day time courses in Hull, it would be interesting to hear what you thought about your learning experience?

Thanks for reading.

Sue Raphael's Mum

"TOWER FOR AN HOUR"

The Tower Cinema.. into the 21st Century.

Did you know, The Tower Cinema is a Grade II Listed building?

Opened on June 1st, 1914, was designed by H. Percival Binks and seated 1,200 in the stalls and a single balcony.

The tower was one of the city's earliest and most luxurious cinemas.

The opening night back in 1914 consisted of an orchestra who entertained guests before they settled down to watch a black and white silent film. Sound equipment was introduced in 1929.

Sadly, in September 1978 the Tower closed as a cinema and was used for different ventures. By 1983 The Tower began its life as a busy nightclub and fun pub - both uses taking its toll on the once lush, extravagant interior.

Many people in Hull will remember those 80’s years of “Tower for an Hour”! “Grab a Granny Night”! and all the wacky outfits and ear bashingly overloud music!

Now in 2009, The Tower (renamed-Club Rio), has become a nightclub again, with dancing Brazilian-style carnival queens, palm trees and a 25ft waterfall cascading down behind one of the bars.


It is great to see “The Tower” is still entertaining the people, different time, different style but entertainment all the same. I have good memories of this building, spent time there, it was a wild place…male or female the place was, and I guess still is… a great place to go. As I have got older, I seem to be able to appreciate other things about this magnificent imposing building. There are some beautiful features worth mentioning.

At either end, there are large windows above exit doors. Perched on the roof are beautifully decorated domes of green and cream mosaics with bands of gold glass. They have not always been there. The twin domes were removed around 2005 as part of the Anlaby Road facelift. Hull City Council launched legal action against the owners of the listed building and the domes were replaced and restored to their original glory.



Also to catch the eye, looking out from the top parapet, a bare breasted female can be seen watching the passing traffic.


Do you have fond memories of “Tower”? I would love to hear them.

Thanks for reading.

Sue Raphael's Mum