It's A Brum Ting!

 

If you're British, you'd have to have been living under a rock not to know that the 2022 Commonwealth Games are currently being held in Birmingham and, with events also taking place in Coventry, Leamington Spa, Cannock Chase, Wolverhampton and the Black Country, the West Midlands is absolutely buzzing. There's not a hotel room to be had in Walsall and, with one of the town's railway stations being used as one of the Park & Ride venues for the games, I decided that the trains might be crazy busy and opted to travel by bus to meet my friend, Annie for a day out in Birmingham.

 I always catch the train to Birmingham, which is a bit daft when you think about it, the bus to Birmingham stops at the bottom of our road, runs every 5 minutes and a Daysaver ticket, which offers unlimited travel throughout the West Midlands, only costs £4 for the day. You can even pay by card these days!

The Rotunda

The bus was packed, with many of the passengers alighting at Perry Barr's Alexander Stadium (four miles from Walsall), the venue for the opening ceremony and host to many of the events, and just over twenty minutes later I was in Birmingham city centre. 

Perry, the games' mascot

Thinking the traffic into town might be slow, I caught an earlier bus. With half an hour before I met up with Annie outside M&S, I had a wander around and soaked up the almost festival-like atmosphere. 

The bronze bull, greeting visitors to the Bull Ring since 2003

Grand Central (aka New Street Station)

I met up with Annie and we popped into The Shakespeare on Lower Temple Street for a pint.

We walked up to The Mailbox, the former Royal Mail sorting office but now a development, housing  amongst other things, the high-end department store Harvey Nichols and the BBC Birmingham studios.

We admired the Harvey Nicks window display, showcasing talent from some of this year’s Fashion Design BA (Hons) graduates, from Birmingham City University.

We wandered around Harvey Nichols, gasping at the prices and shaking our heads in disbelief at the awful, logo-emblazoned clothing and accessories. I spotted several of the brands I've bought from charity shops around the Black Country - Paige, Paul Smith, Free People, True Religion, Traffic People - rarely paying more than a couple of quid for any of them. I'm hoping that it won't be too long before the embroidered maxi dress below turns up in a local chazza (I didn't fancy paying the £495 on the tag!)

 

Ludicrously priced clothes aside, our real reason for our trip to The Mailbox was to visit Jambo Cinema, artist Dawinder Bansal's immersive exhibition inspired by her childhood memories of growing up in her parents' corner shop in Wolverhampton, which sold electrical goods and rented out Bollywood videos. 

 You may have seen Dawinder in the excellent BBC series, Back in Time for Birmingham, which explored fifty years of British Asian history within the West Midlands. She also popped up on The Repair Shop when she took Basanti, her vintage shop mannequin, to be repaired (HERE).

It was an absolute delight to meet Dawinder - her enthusiasm and passion are contagious.

The exhibition runs until the 26th August. Admission is free but spaces are limited - book HERE.

Birmingham Town Hall (1834)

Centenary Square's Queen Victoria (last seen on my day out with Nikki HERE) has been reimagined by Guyanese British artist, Huw Locke. In each statue she's wearing Britannia's helmet with a medal signifying an important battle in the history of the British Empire.

The day had started off with torrential rain but by midday the sun was shining and it was gloriously warm. We followed the crowds and made our way to the shining star of the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, the armoured bull, a mechanised beast breathing smoke and emitting tears of blood, standing ten metres tall and weighing in at a colossal 2.5 tonnes. 

If you've ever wondered why Birmingham is represented by a bull, here's a bit of history for you. 

Around 1160, a charter granted the Lord of the Manor of Berm, Peter de Bermingham, permission to hold a weekly market at his moated manor where he levied tolls on the goods and produce sold (now the site of the Bull Ring shopping centre). First called the 'Corn Cheaping' in reference to the corn market, the Bull Ring referred to a green within the market. The 'ring' part of the location's current name refers to a hoop of iron, to which bulls were tied for baiting before slaughter.

In the 16th century, bear-baiting became a popular 'sport'. It involved spectators at the Bull Ring watching dogs attack a defenceless bull and some wrongly believed it tenderised the meat. Bull-baiting stopped at the Bull Ring in 1798 when it moved to Handsworth, but the site kept the now-famous name.

Sorry about all the photos - I love him!

And here he is in action.....

Annie had booked a table at Dishoom - in my opinion, the best Indian restaurant outside of Mumbai - and we shared gunpowder potatoes, black dhal and a tandoori naan washed down with a bottle of IPA, followed by pistachio kulfi. As always the service was second to none and the food sublime. 

 Before catching our respective buses back to the Black Country, we enjoyed an ice-cold lager in the sunshine outside The Old Contemptibles, which was a regular haunt when I worked in Birmingham back in the day. Named in honour of British Expeditionary Force who served in Flanders between 5th August and 22nd November, 1914, 'Old Contemptibles' arose from an Order of the Day issued by the Kaiser, which mentioned 'Sir John French's contemptible little army'.

What a fabulous day, thanks Annie! 

If you didn't see the opening ceremony last week, here's some of the highlights. Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders, was one of the creative directors, it was an amazing watch.

And here's the inspiration behind my blog title.....

It's Lord Jon's birthday tomorrow - further adventures to follow!