Tales From The City

On Wednesday I caught the train over to Birmingham for my regular play date with Nikki. 

It was another of those no plan days where, after a catch-up over fancy pots of tea, Cranberry & Rose Sencha for me and Jasmine Pearl for Nikki, in the legendary Yorks of Stephenson Street we wandered the city streets.

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery opened by then then Prince of Wales, Edward VII in 1885. Partially closed since 2020, it is home to a huge array of Pre-Raphaelite art and the world's largest collection of Edward Burne-Jones' work. The museum is due to reopen on 10th February for the eagerly awaited Victorian Radicals exhibition (I've already got my ticket!)

 

The clock tower is known as Big Brum.

Birmingham Town Hall is the oldest building in Chamberlain Square, it opened in 1834 and remains a popular live music venue (the last gig I saw here was Big Country back in the mid-1990s). The building in the foreground is the Chamberlain Memorial, unveiled in 1880 in honour of the former Liberal mayor, Joseph Chamberlain, whose son, Neville, later became the British PM.

Opened in 1925, the Hall of Memory stands as a memorial to the men and women of Birmingham who gave their lives in the First World War, Second World War and in active service since 1945.

The Library of Birmingham opened in 2013 and cost approx. £188 million. It is the largest cultural space and largest regional library in Europe.

Opened by the late queen in 1991, Birmingham Symphony Hall seats 2,262 and is ranked as having the best acoustics in the United Kingdom and the 7th best in the world. I saw Joe Jackson there in 1992.

The sculpture, The Battle of Gods and Giants (2009) by Roderick Tye is said to represent the city's struggle to rebuild its centre. 

With 35 miles of waterways, Birmingham has more miles of canals than Venice.

Closed when we walked past on Wednesday, Ikon, is the city's leading contemporary art gallery. Its premises, a glorious Grade II listed Neo-Gothic building unveiled in 1877, was formerly a school.

The Black Sabbath Bridge, opened in 2019 in honour of the legendary Birmingham band formed in 1968. The photo above was taken on a previous visit, that tree was bare on Wednesday! 

Isn't Nikki's vintage carpet bag amazing? £8!! Bargain of the decade!

The Golden Boys honours inventors Matthew Boulton (1728-1809), James Watt (1736-1819) and William Murdoch (1754 – 1839). Portrayed studying steam engine plans, the three Brummies revolutionised the steam engine, the technology which drove the Industrial Revolution.

After a rummage in Cow, a huge vintage clothes shop in the city's Digbeth area, we walked over to Snow Hill for lunch at The Indian Brewery where, as always, we were greeted as long lost friends by beautiful boss, Marni. Nikki had Chilli Paneer and I stuck to my usual Chaart Attack accompanied by pints of the Birmingham-brewed Pekok lager. 

The actual brewery (where the Indian Brewery produce their beer) is currently based in Aston but is in the process of relocating around the corner from the restaurant in Mary Ann Street. By April it should be open as a tapas bar and for brewery tours (we've already put our names down!)

Reflected in the glass is the Post Office Tower which, like me, became operational in December 1966. Standing at 152 metres, it's the tallest building in Birmingham.

After a quick whizz round Monsoon in the Bull Ring we hugged goodbye and caught our respective trains home. Thanks for a fab day, bab! See you soon. 

Thursday consisted of a swim, a 'Spoons breakfast and short drive to one of our favourite Birmingham suburbs for a spot of charity shopping. In addition to some good stuff for the stockroom, a huge haul of vintage vinyl (which I'll share soon), I snaffled myself not one but two pairs of boots. I spotted the green El Naturalista ankle boots a fortnight ago and as they were still there I took it as a sign that they had to be mine. I bought the Fly London biker boots for eBay but made the mistake of trying them on. Not only absurdly comfy but made in Europe, the El Naturalista originally retailed at £143 and the Fly London are still £120 on the website, that's a grand total of £263 but a combined cost to me of just £24! 

Here I am gathering my strength earlier today. Jon decided that it would be the day we finally tackled the dreaded middle room aka The Shit Tip or The Dumping Ground as he has plans. This is the room where a young man took his own life by hanging himself from the light fitting in the 1920s. It's directly below the bathroom and the ceiling is riddled with water stains from when the bath sprung a leak a decade ago. Although my Dad never knew the history of this room he refused to spend time in it saying it had a malevolent presence. Neither of us get any bad vibes in here although, quite often, we've seen a ghost cat which walks around the room, climbs the stairs and vanishes midway up.  We think all of the cats we've ever owned see the ghost cat too, they acted really strangely in this room (and William still does), chasing things that aren't there with their eyes all a-glitter and fur on end.

As I'm sure you're aware, I'm so not into all that carefully curated Instagram w*nkery, so here it is in all it's cobweb-strewn, stained, dusty (and possibly haunted) glory. 

Can we fix it? I'll keep you posted! It's a lot less cluttered and cleaner now. 

Have a fantastic weekend. We're out on the town tomorrow night celebrating Tony's birthday. I'll be back with photos and gossip very soon!