Football Fans Decibels
Top three clubs                      Bottom three clubs

Stoke 101.8                             Wigan 86.06
Tottenham 97.58                      Hull 84.6
Liverpool 95.4                          Sunderland 84.05

I wasn’t even at the game against Man City on Saturday, but I could certainly hear the “Come on you Hull” chants, and as I drove past at the end of the game the general banter continued as the fans poured out of the stadium.

Admittedly, it wasn’t my greatest moment in terms of timing as I tried to navigate my car through everyone, crawling along because people were randomly crossing the road without even glancing my way. But it got me thinking about the plans to incorporate a train station stop near the KC and whether it would ease the post-game congestion deadlock.

A couple of blogs have also offered their opinion, but I’m in two minds. Would it work? Would people actually use it? It’s bad enough getting on and off busy trains at the best of times. At least bus stops have a “queue from here” philosophy whereas trains just tend to encourage people to pile in with little regard for the old lady/small child they happen to squash.

I think, as I’m writing this, I’m probably in the “no thanks, not a good idea” camp.

Can you believe that some authorities have switched off street and road lights at night to save money?

“Residents in areas affected by the Government-backed initiative say they have been left at risk from serious road accidents, crime and vandalism.”

I’m not surprised. You’ll be delighted to know, however, that Hull City Council appears to have ruled out cutting the lights as an energy saving measure.

Instead, with soaring energy prices expected to cost Hull an extra £1m a year, they’ve brainstormed some long-term strategies which basically translate as belt-tightening; using low energy lamps in street lights, turning off computers… Not exactly far reaching, but switching off street and road lights altogether surely isn’t the answer either?

So on further inspection, I find out that it has pretty impressive facilities – especially for Hull.

There are currently over 300 World Trade Centres across the globe, where members can access state-of-the-art business support services - ranging from expertise and temporary office space to online data access and video conferencing.

Basically, it’s a one-stop-shop to help you do business in international markets, but if it helps put Hull and the Humber – and local companies - on the map, then I’m all for it. Keep an eye on their news pages to see what grabs your attention and how they can help you.

A report by the ICE (Institute of Civil Engineers) states that Yorkshire and Humberside receive the lowest transport funding than any other region in the UK.

In fact, we have £200 spent per head on us, compared to £600 on average down South.

This surely means that any plans to improve the network are never even going to see the light of day because of the unfair funding allocation?

This even follows numerous findings that Yorkshire and Humber host plenty of Britain’s most dangerous roads, including our very own A1079 from Market Weighton to Hull. I’m not convinced speed cameras are the way forward either, but that’s a blog for another day…

The usual confusion starts with expressions like these:

And finally, one of the biggest grudges in the area:

      “There’s no such thing as ‘umbersard”

       The region previously known as Humberside doesn’t exist any more

I haven’t ever managed to pick up the accent myself, but take great delight in asking my friends to repeat what they’ve just said, in English…but as they reply, “Nowt wrong wiv a Hull accent”

I can’t believe people have taken this seriously though and have been offended. The Hull accent is part of the City’s identity, surely, and I have to say it’s got to be better than a Brummy or Newcastle accent?

It turns out that scrapping the tolls would benefit the local economy by £1.1bn over the next 25 years, with the report listing improvements to the region if the tolls were abolished or even reduced to £1.

More to the point, it claims that Hull could gain a further £45m in retail opportunities, as it seems all those on the South Bank would prefer to go on a shopping spree on a trip to Lincoln or Meadowhall than venture across the bridge.

I’m not entirely convinced that the cost of crossing the Bridge is the reason for stopping people coming across to shop, but either way, reducing the tolls would certainly help both sides of the bank.

No doubt this will get thrown around in Parliament, yet again, but to help the cause, you can sign the Hull Daily Mail’s petition, A Toll Too Far, here

Research done for the B&Q’s Brighten Up Britain bid has reported that Hull is the dullest place to live in Britain!

We got 17% of the vote – which was even more than Milton Keynes (11%) and then Birmingham (9%)…

I never used to be this defensive about Hull, but with nearly 1 in 5 people voting for us, someone needs to take a stand….

Bob Carver’s chips, bright lights, stomach-churning rides, toffee apples and a great view of the City from the Big Wheel – what more could you ask for?

I know it’s got some complaints over the years - and with everything these days it seems to be more and more expensive each year - but I just think it’s magic. The weather always seems to hold out, I get wonderfully disorientated each time with all the distractions and you always end up with a prize.

Favourite memory? Winning the bingo and having the choice of a new kitchenware set or a desk lamp. Trust me, at the time, I was overwhelmed!

I love walking down Walton Street and seeing all the stalls, and a particular favourite has to be watching the terrified faces of the people regretting their choice of white-knuckle ride.

Don’t miss out on this year’s Hull Fair, it’s from Friday 10^th Oct to Saturday 18^th Oct (excluded Sun 12^th Oct).

It came as no surprise that hotels and restaurants have topped the charts, which are common search terms to look for in a particular city anyway.

What did amuse us, however, was that fancy dress was the third most popular search term. Perhaps the people of Hull are bigger party animals than we thought? I would imagine university students help boost these results, but even if you’re not part of that clan, feel free to let us know of any regular fancy dress parties that you may be hosting…!

Even so, I’m not quite sure that anyone could have predicted Hull City being an amazing fifth in the table before the season started. It seems all cynics and supporters, however, are united in their criticism over the Danny Guthrie challenge, which certainly doesn’t quite fit into the FA’s Respect campaign as far as I can see.

Still, at least Hull can be celebrating in the meantime about their table position. We’ll check back again mid-season to see whether we can continue this surge.