This is the 1.17 to nirvana: how a Yorkshire commute became a work of art

Bouquets beneath the Humber bridge, the mayor of Gibraltar in his trunks, windfarms and mudflats … the train ride from Goole to Hull has become a symphony of stories

A short while after leaving Hessle station, my daughter hands me a drawing. She’s been sketching the vast 2,200-metre-long Humber bridge, which we’ve just this minute passed under. What, I ask, are those tiny figures? The people who’ve jumped, she explains.

We’re wearing headphones attached to a laptop that is playing a work of music and poetry. It consists of 10 tracks, five to be played on the 30-minute Goole-Hull journey, and five on the return. The music is by Gavin Bryars, the poetry by Blake Morrison, whose words for the Hessle-Hull section inspired my daughter’s drawing.