Hull

The city of Hull was described as the "worst place to live in the UK" in 2003 by the Crap Towns book, so I was curious as to what to expect when I visited it last weekend.

Hull seemed a dreamy faraway place to me during the 1990s- telephone calls were much cheaper than in the rest of the UK, due to Hull's telephone network not being owned by BT. It's no surprise therefore, that the UK's first BBS was apparently in Hull.

At the weekend, while wandering around the city with cerebros_vivos, my gaze frequently fixated on the telephone boxes. Their appearance made me feel like I was visiting a different country, since unlike the rest of the UK, all the phoneboxes are cream-coloured (although they do not taste like cream).

Posters about lost trawlermen adorned the buses - evidence that Hull is a port town, as well as a fish trail covering the pavements and the Spurn Lightship waiting patiently at the docks. "Squids welcome here," the sign above the gift-shop said at The Deep (Hull's impressive submarium). I suspect that I saw at least 100 tentacles there.

Spiders nightclub was visited two nights in a row and I marvelled that a pint could really cost as little as £1.20. I failed to see the tree sculptures and the Humber Bridge, but I did realise that at one point, the air smelt very much of cocoa (due to the cocoa mills).