Birmingham.

Wednesday 6th August.

A strange brightness appeared to be shining through the pigeon box port holes, it was something we had not seen for a few days. Yes the sun was shining yayyyy, a morning with sunshine, now that was a novelty. Marmite was doing everything she knew to get our attention, which included trying to dig up the vinyl flooring in the back cabin, climbing the exhaust on the engine, which meant getting her claws stuck in the insulation, so she was then meowing for help, so she could escape her capture. It has the desired affect though because I had to get out of bed to rescue her. So with us both up and the bed rolled up and hidden away in the bed ole’. Marmite felt she had succeeded in getting what she wanted more than anything else in this world, her breakfast. With her happily purring whilst eating, my attentions then turned to Paddy, who with a yodel announced that he would quite like to go for his walk, before his bladder burst. So having downed my cereal we set off along the towpath. Coming back from his stroll with the dog was Bryan from N.B No problem, we always seem to meet whilst walking the dogs in the morning. We exchange a good morning across the cut and are on our way. Back onboard Hadar, Paddy enjoys his breakfast biscuits, whilst I pour our morning brew. It gives Keith the time to do a crossword, whilst I read a few more pages of ‘The Water Road’. Come 10am we then don our jackets and are just heading off to the cinema again, when Elaine and David on board N.B Patience crawls past into a mooring in front of us. We discuss the fact that it is worth staying put now until the BCN Explorer Cruise and whether there is anything in Birmingham for a 4 year old to do, as their grand-daughter is joining them the weekend. I reckon any 4 year old will find something to do in Birmingham. We then say ‘we will see them later’ and head off into the city. As always it was teeming with people, who were eating on the hoof, or chatting on their mobiles, which looked like they were welded to the side of the persons head. Why is it no one ever looks where they are going?
You always feel like you are playing dodgems in a crowd. Not only do you have to watch the traffic you have to watch who is coming towards you like a missile. It is as though they do not see who is in front of them.
A busker was sat outside of the Tesco Metro, murdering a tune with his violin; he was not brightening anyone’s day with that racket.
The Emirates Beach was empty, Red and White Deck chairs, all lined up abandoned, they await the hoards who will come and play in the sand, especially as the sun was shining.
We only wanted to get to the cinema, but you felt like you had to push your way through, just to make any headway and I hate that. We were on our way to the cinema to watch, ‘The Mummy The return of the Dragon Emperor’. Due to the fact it was 11.30am, screen 4 was only a ¼ full for the film which was out in cinemas today. This evening it will be heaving probably. We settled in our seats with our popcorn and drinks. I know your thinking popcorn and fizzy drinks two days running ewwwww, but hey it was free and in this day and age you do not get anything for free very often.
The film was brilliant; it had all the leading actors from the other two films. The only difference was the actress playing Ricks wife, she is now Maria Bello and not Rachel Weiss. We both thought the special effects were fantastic as was the whole adventure. If you enjoyed the first two films ‘The Mummy’ and ‘The Mummy Returns’ you will definitely love this film. It has action, adventure and a few giggles. On leaving the cinema, it seemed like even more people were going about their day, with little regard for those around them. Pushchairs being thrust through the crowds like ram raiders. We are both people watchers and Birmingham is a people watchers paradise. You see allsorts of dress code, mannerism, behaviour and language. Whilst heading back to boat at Brindley Place, a man was sat on the steps looking slightly worse for wear, saying “God bless you this day, give me your small change”. I am not one to judge, but I think that he would be sitting there a long time before anyone is going hand over their hard earned cash.

Thursday 7th August.

Woooo hoooo the sun is out again, blimey that is two days in a row.
Is this a cause to celebrate summer maybe arriving ha ha. Actually the weather has not been that bad this summer. This is Britain after all; we never have wall to wall sunshine do we?
So we were up, breakfast done and dusted, Paddy walked, Marmite fed and I finished ‘The Water Road’ by Paul Gogarty. I would say it is a fantastic read, very informative, and thought provoking at times. I learnt a lot from the book, including why we saw coconuts in London and have seen the same here in Birmingham. It is all to do with Hindu funerals; it seems that coconuts are used as offerings along with rice and flowers, they are launched into the water as part of a Hindu funeral. So even at 46 not even I am too old to learn something new.
Having enjoyed breakfast and a read we then took off down to Farmer’s Locks, to see if we could find the Science Museum, but wouldn’t you know it, it has closed and the exhibits are located in other parts of the country. So we then walked into the city to the Museum, where we took in some culture and learned about the Bull Ring’s history. The Museum also has a large art gallery, with some truly stunning pieces in it.
Lunch was taken in the Chinese Quarter at the Big Wok Chinese Buffet on Wrottesley Street. When we got there it was pretty busy already, we were seated and ordered our drinks. We then went and chose our food, which was scrummy as always at a Chinese buffet. It seemed that this was the place to be at lunch time, it was filling up every second and there were a que people out of the door. Whilst eating we both tend to people watch, and this young man at the next door table with his sister and grand-mother caught our eye. Actually we could not miss him, because his jeans were hanging half way around his knees, showing off his cartoon boxers.
What is it with the young men of today that they have to show their underwear?
Maybe it is the fact that I am getting on, but it does nothing for me. We had no idea what was keeping his jeans up, and were waiting for them to crash to the floor, meaning he would have embarrassment written all over his face. Although if you’re wearing cartoon boxers to begin with, you wouldn’t be embarrassed at all probably. That’s the young for you. Another thing that struck us was the age groups that eat in these buffet places, they range from the very young, to the elderly and that I find really wonderful, and it is food for all ages.
We plod back to the boat pleasantly full, and just miss the steam boat President, who had moored up opposite whilst we were away. Still they are going to the National Festival so we will catch them there. We did spend sometime chatting to Elaine and David from N.B Patience, we soon realised it was 3pm and a coffee was called for. With the sun still shining it was a good chance to open up the boat and let some fresh air in. I wonder what delights tomorrow will bring forth.