Hull Journal: Comprehensive Chronological Order

03 / 04 / 2007; 1526BST
Just settling into the hotel room after a very bizarre journey.

The 11:42 train from Piccadilly ceased running at Huddersfield. Had to board the next train and change at Leeds. One passenger said the 11:42 had run out of diesel. A large number of passengers boarded a TPExpress at Leeds terminating at Hull. Not long after the conductor had checked tickets, a man came round in a high-viz jacket selling the Big Issue magazine. He was shabbily presented but very polite. At first I was commending First for helping the homeless. Then the conductor appeared. "You don't have permission to sell things on board!" The hobo could only mutter. He stumbled passed and carried on. About twenty minutes later we pulled into Selby. The conductor announced there would be a delay in the doors opening. Great: another delay. For five minutes passengers stood, waiting, while nothing happened. Eventually British Transport Police appeared. The set of doors in my eye line opened and two officers came aboard. They handcuffed a chaved-out man roughly my age: he had assaulted the hobo as he made his way through the front carriage. The hobo was also detained by British Transport Police officers. His relationship with authority is a blurred, even confused one.

I personally think he had a great idea. He was in possession of a valid ticket and he was polite to the passengers. Train operators should consider this as something worth considering.

03 / 04 / 2007; 1633BST
I have been out and had a good wander round the city centre. The generic city centre. The same shops. The same divisions of people. As I turned a corner I found the Tourist Information Centre. Entering with the simple hope of finding a simple fold-out map of the city of Hull, I came away with an array of pamphlets and leaflets; I was also surprised by the modernity of the centre. The first leaflets were about steam railways for Paul. I think we have all been to the National Railway Museum, but I picked that one up anyway.

I could not find what I wanted! Then I noticed another display of pamphlets, but these were more general. I asked the gentleman behind the counter the quickest way to Wilberforce House. As he was giving directions I saw all the Wilberforce leaflets had pride of place on the front counter.

Banners hang from every lamp post. You notice them as you walk. You notice people noticing them as you walk. I can see three from my dirty window: "Pride. Freedom. Belief. Change."

I have also gained admiration for the simplicity offered by New York's grid system. There, you have to walk just a single block and you know where you are going and where you should be going. Here, it is all down to luck. If you do not have a good map. I am off to the bar for a pint of Guinness and a studying of the acquired literature.

04 / 04 / 2007; 0828BST
Last night's trip to the bar was a success as far as the leaflets were concerned -- but the Guinness was off! At 19:45 the European football took over.

There were only five other gentlemen in the bar last night. My thoughts then that the hotel is almost empty were confirmed this morning at breakfast. I was the only one there. Still, I would prefer the hotel to be very quiet to very busy.

After the bar, I came back to base to wash my hair. I burnt myself getting the shower to work. My right shoulder is bright red! Showers, bath s and toilets should be universal around the world!! God Bless the Starbucks effect!

Anyway, the day which lies ahead is focused on Wilberforce House. Hull's museums do not open until 10:00, so I shall plan to arrive there 10:15, not wanting to seem to keen. And then I shall stay there for the rest of the day...!

Also, whilst in the bar last night I enjoyed watching what the Americans call 'the intersection'. I have finally put my finger on why British junctions are so different: we have made them more complex to make them easier. Easier for motorists. What we have been left with are small islands for pedestrians to stand on while traffic rushes past either side of them. A closer study of this might be very revealing.

04 / 04 / 2007; 1412BST
Just finished dinner and have saved a great deal many photographs to Paul's drive. Wilberforce House was nothing I expected. Its function as a home has been entirely disposed with -- only the shell remains. The only homely room is Wilberforce's personal library, but even this is presented in glass cabinets cursed by modernity. Coincidentally this is what I was most exited about seeing. To see so many open spaces disappointed me. If it was that room which was designated as a library by the Wilberforce family, then I am of the opinion that it would have been absolutely full during the lifetime of Mr. Wilberforce. I was nevertheless warmed to see a book entitled 'Browne's Travels': it brought a smile to my face. he had numerous other books detailing other individuals travels; I can only assume Mr. Wilberforce would have therefore greatly enjoyed 'How I Found Livingstone' had he lived long enough to witness it's publication.

The rest of the building told me a great many things I was already aware of. But it did no harm to learn them again. The first floor had very little direct connection to the gentleman who once lived there. I picked up a good leaflet entitled 'Slavery: Past, Present & Future'.

Wilberforce House is serving as a good starting point for learning about the slave trade, slavery, and Mr. William Wilberforce. But I am far beyond the starting point. i have read the works of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Booker Taliaferro Washington, Sojourner Truth, Olaudah Equiano, James Weldon Johnson, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, John Howard Griffin, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, Malcolm X, Harriet Beecher Stowe . . . but I was not isolated form all the other persons observing the displays. We were all still chained together by the unspoken understanding that what happened was wrong. Yes, it really is that simple: what happened was wrong.

In retrospect today has been a most successful day. My pilgrimage to Hull (and the refurbished Wilberforce House) serves as my own celebration of the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807. But you and I know that the country is celebrating two hundred years of freedom two hundred years too soon. Thanks Jim.

Yours, wherever you may be,
Daniel C. Wright