Birmingham in Spring

A week or so ago I had to go to Birmingham for work...

It was for a seminar on 'Critical Studies of Public Engagement in Science and the Environment'. I know it probably sounds boring as hell but actually it was rather interesting (I know I am a nerd!). It was well attended by bigwigs in the field and when they put us in small discussion groups in the afternoon, I was lucky enough to be in a group with one of my PhD examiners as the facilitator. Unfortunately, I still have such a huge level of respect and admiration for the guy that I become kind of unable to articulate myself properly in his presence, but he was super friendly and supportive, which was nice.

It was another fly in fly out kind of a visit, where I really only got to see the suburbs that lay between the walk from my bed and breakfast to the University (which turned out to be rather long as I got a little lost for a while). I did, however, also take a train into the city one afternoon to stroll around for a while but I quickly got bored by the endless blocks of standard shops and malls - after i had bought a few cheap DVDs from HMV that is! Including 'The Neverending Story', which I can't wait to watch again! While I am not sure I would say I know anything about Birmingham as a city after this visit, it was lovely to get a real sense of spring.

This photo is from my walk through the suburbs into the uni...gorgeous blossoms and tulips and bulbs everywhere!
The homes in that area were ENORMOUS! Really old school rich british style constructions...
Just as you start thinking this all looks very nice and maybe you could actually contemplate living in England, you see something that reminds you of why living amongst the poms may not be so desirable after all...
It was, however, rather relaxing to visit an english speaking city for a change, even though this did mean that I could actually understand all these signs inhibiting my sense of fun and freedom! After a couple of days in Birmingham I flew off to Amsterdam to meet J for the weekend - a city where english is very widely spoken and signs inhibiting your sense of fun and freedom and very much reduced :) Perhaps I can post some pics from that visit next time... xxx