(Hmm, I’ve reminded myself of the programme my kids used to watch about a little car, narrated by Toyah. That wasn’t wise.)
A day in Birmingham at a long but productive meeting, followed by a night in a hotel that, well, wasn’t the best I’ve stayed at. I decided to go for a walk while they photocopied – photocopied! – the room service menu for me. I found a superb shopping centre, with all the same shops as every other city but more so, but no restaurants, not even a pub! After a consolatory browse in Borders books (45m), I headed back to the hotel, asked about internet access but declined the offer of an hour for £6.00, retrieved my photocopy of the room service menu and got a curry (£9.50) and a quarter bottle of wine (£6.50) on a tray (£5.00 – no kidding!).
In the morning, on my way to the next meeting, I found a cafe with free internet access if you bought a coffee or a glass of their delicious smoothies and was able to see some of the architecture. It’s not Barcelona, but there are some reasonable examples of steel-and-glass
and some nice older buildings:
In Victoria Square they have their own Sphinxes:
… and a very nice stepped fountain.
Flew back very tired for an enjoyable open mic at the Stag in Queensferry with mates the Impossibles and Tommy MacKay and Andy and Susan of Etrangere. Played McCartney’s Jenny Wren falteringly but a version of my own Come With Me that seemed to hit the mark in an unexpected way.
Come with me is a great song. Thanks for doing it.