A Trip to Brum

An incredibly early start this morning - up at 4.30 a.m. to catch the 5.15 a.m. train for Birmingham with changes at Basingstoke and Reading. Arriving at Birmingham New Street Station at 8.15 a.m. I set off for a little cafe I know near Snow Hill Station close to Pinsent Mason's where I was attending a TUPE Conference. I was quite shocked to see how many shops had closed due to the recession including my little cafe called Le Rendezvous. There still seem to be plenty of expensive coffee shops giving the impression that if you have plenty of money yiou're okay but if you have a modest income there are no places for a modest breakfast. In the end, after walking around the Bull Ring area for some time I ended up in a McDonald's for a breakfast bagel. It was, however, surprisingly good. On my way to Pinsent's I located the Aston Villa shop in New Street. The Conference was extremely good and included a hot lunch - mushroom strogonoff and cheesecake. The course ended at 4.30 p.m. and I was back on the train to Salisbury at 5.12 p.m. after stopping off at the Aston Villa shop to get a lunch pack , gloves and scarf for Tom and a souvenir bear for Mary. The return journey was via Bristol Temple Meads where I had to change on to the Portsmouth Harbour train for Salisbury. I arrived back in Salisbury at 8.32 p.m. and dropped in at the Lord Nelson pub in our village where the Church had organised a Shrove Tuesday pancake evening. I stayed for about 40 minutes, had my pancakes and a beer and chatted with Nils, Elizabeth, Tanya, Steve, Dawn and Cynthia amongst others. Feeling extremely tired I returned home for a coffee and to write up this blog.