Architectural dissonance & an island of cows
Katherine Horrex, Writing Squad grad and Project H writer writes …
We met again in the oak panelled reading room of Hull Central Library, where Steve set some objectives for us to bear in mind on our walk through town and out to the marina. We were each to look out for an item that we might choose to steal from the city, and we were also asked to think of some words to describe the area.
We fell into conversation stopping halfway down Princess Dock Street to gauge the sloping stance of Roland House, a grade II listed building, formerly an almshouse and now offices. Zoe pointed out the signatures in the pavement by the lampposts marking the way along the waterside. When we got to the railings by the Humber we tried to get our bearings, looking out for the flare stack across the estuary at Killingholme. The tide was carrying the river almost soundlessly out to sea.
Steve asked me to read my poem about Whitton Island and to talk about the island. When someone asked whether or not it was the same place a group of cows had escaped to a few years ago, I couldn’t help but dismiss the idea as an unlikely piece of local myth. Sure enough, though, a Google search proves that not only have there been several incidents involving herds becoming stranded along the river, but there has been at least one such case involving cows wading out to Whitton Sands.
We didn’t wish to emulate that pilgrimage. Instead we made our way back to the library, where we discussed some of the words that had sprung to mind, some of them linked to the commercial environment, compound sales slogans such as ‘BigBrands’ and ‘BottomPrices’, while others, like ‘mismatch’ and ‘patchwork’, were inspired by the architectural dissonance, the meshing of the traditional maritime old town with blocky postwar prefabs and spiky postmodern structures.