Lift up your eyes 2

Still in Parliament Street, this wonderful brick and stonework can be seen above Dolland and Aitcheson on the corner of Parliament Street and Church Street next to St. Sampson's Square.

Lift Up Your Eyes 1

York is very much like a lot of other cities in the UK with lots of shopping streets in the centre, you'll find the majority of the multiple shops around plus one or two home grown ones. In fact you could be excused for thinking that you could be in any town in the UK. However, I have said it fairly often be prepared to look at buildings above the ground floor level and you get beyond that boring sameness of the major Multiples and large flat plate glass windows.

To start this series off we are in Parliament Street home of the plain modernistic stone and glass facade of HSBC. Look around though and lift your eyes up to find the gems that are walked past everyday. This fine ornate example stands above a shop called Claire's. The details have been picked out in a contrasting blue and white almost a reverse Wedgewood effect. I think this shop is about where a John Smith's pub called "The Clock" used to stand. This may well be the decorative housing for the clock. I'll have to see if I can find some old photos of this area. See photo below for a contextual setting of the ornamentation including the complexity of the windows.

HSBC - Parliament Street

Not a particularly interesting building but it does dominate this corner by the fountain in Parliament Street. It is very much a modern functional concrete box. I wonder if might become as detested as Stonebow house as it weathers.

Food and Drink Festival - Yorkshire Honey Stall

The Food and Drink Festival continues and here are some of the stalls in Parliament Street.

Unusual View of Fountain in Parliament Street

This fountain in Parliament Street normally stands in the open but has been enclosed in a tent for the Food and Drink Festival running 19th to 28th September 2008. Tents have been erected along Parliament Street and St Sampson's Square. The Guildhall is also being used as a venue.

Italian Market - Bread Stall 2

That bread stall really did have some tempting looking wares.

Italian Market - Bread Stall

A tempting stall with interesting bread at the Italian Market.

Karaoke Opera

To go with the Italian theme of the market this young lady was singing opera songs with musical accompaniement from the boom box on the table.

Italian Market in Parliament Street

Back to posting everyday; I have been working on my loft room, having opened up a void area I have been insulating it and building some cupboards and have not had time to go out and take photographs.

This is the latest in the York Special Markets this week is the Italian Market. More to follow over the next few days.

Continental Market Parliament Street

From time to time there is a Continental Market held in Parliament Street with stalls offering all manner of items continental like Greek and Spanish food, German Beer, Indian Curry to name but a few. A sdhower of rain was keeping these plants healthy. For details of the various specialist and event markets see the City of York Council website.

Bouncey Castle

I considered calling this one "What an erection!" but had second thoughts about that. From time to time a bouncey castle is erected in Parliament Street or St Sampson's square. I guess ther must be a half term holiday coming up, or is it upon us already!

Marks and Spencers Clock - Parliament Street

This clock is all that remains of a John Smith's pub called The Clock. M&S bought the space to expand the shop in the late 1960s.

Parliament Street - Muller Rice Bus

This bus was parked in Parliament Street yesterday morning handing out free samples of Muller Rice. There also was a competition form to fill in, didn't look that closely so I don't know what the prize was.

Chutney Cheese Fish and Meat - Newgate Market

The market in York is tucked away in a cobbled square behind Marks and Spencer's behind Parliament Street and next to The Shambles. Entrance to the Market area from Parliament Street is under a discreetly green painted archway procaliming the market as "Newgate Market". In addition to the flexible canvas topped stalls in the market are these permanent brick built stalls for vendors selling Chutney, Chese, Fish and Meat.

The British Association has just finished a week long festival of science. Most events were held at York University but some were held in the centre of York. Here is a selection of some of those events.

York Festival of Traditional Dance

Each year around the second weekend of September, York runs a Festival of Traditional Dance on Saturday and Sunday. The festival starts with a procession from the Guildhall, crosses St. Helen's Square and then proceeds down Davygate into Parliament street, finishing in the shady area between Marks and Spencer and Barclays Bank. The photograph above shows Ebor Morris performing the "Winster Processional". Below, is the last note of the processional as Ebor Morris arrive in Parliament Street. From here the 9 groups attending this year split up to perform in St. Sampsons Square, Kings Square and Parliament Street.

Teams attending the event are Acorn, Beverly, Black Pig, Brackley, Ebor, English Miscellany, Inclognito, Jet Set, Minster Strays. Styles of dancing included Cotswold, Long Sword, Border, Northwest Clog and Clog Stepping.

Note for my good friend Chun See in Singapore, I have included another photograph with some of the rare greenery within the city walls. I hope to have some more photos of locations within the walls with trees and greenery over the next few days.

I couldn't resist including this one of a visitor filming the procession.

Newgate Market

The other day it looked like the market had overflowed into Parliament Street which seemed strange for a Monday as it is usually a quiet day for the market. However, when I went through to the market area there were no stalls set up in the market area. The reason can be seen in the next photograph. The strange looking machine in this photo is a treadle sewing machine being used to make name plates.

Canopies of the stalls were being removed and cleaned and the paving flags were getting a high pressure water jet cleaning.