England through the eyes of a Frenchman - Birmingham

There is no place like home, back to Birmingham for one night.  It was a sunny busy Saturday in the City Centre much better conditions than Monsieur X’s first visit three years ago when the weather was terrible and there was a political party conference in the city so police and security checks everywhere – he was not impressed back then.

This time there was no security blocks and the new library was open.  It had only been open a few months and there were more tourists (including fellow Brummies) than bookworms. There was a bigger queue for the lift to the top outdoor garden area than the queue to take out a book. I could show the Monsieur X the main parts of Birmingham in one place, ‘there is Broad Street where all the drunks come out at night, there’s the Cube and the canal where there are good and pricey restaurants and bars, that’s the hall of remembrance, to the right is the ‘Crap building’- my office and behind it is the Rotunda and that’s where the Bullring is. Et Voilà Birmingham in a nutshell.

The Biggest Library in Europe

One of many view from the first outdoor level

 

We stayed in the Premier Inn Waterloo Road, very central surrounded by bars and shops and only 5 minutes’ walk from the train station. ‘This is ze best room all trip’ he said, for our room on the seventh floor of this converted office building.  It was massive room compared to the ones in Liverpool and Blackpool and I would also say spacious if I don’t have other hotel rooms to compare it to. The bed was so comfortable I could have stayed in it all night, but I was on tour guide duty and had to show my friend more of my city.

Premier Inn Waterloo Street

Sunday morning sunrise hotel room view

 

It was an unplanned Wetherspoons chain bar crawl. First the Briar Rose for a £5 beer and burger meal, then the Temple Street Social Club and the Trocadero (both non-Wetherspoons) for another drink before heading towards Broad Street. We stopped off at a bar in Paradise Forum, a good tip sit out Wetherspoons and listen to the music coming out of the Yardbirds bar next door.  Good music from one bar cheaper drinks from the other – bargain! We finished off the night with few more cheap gins at the Lloyds Bar on Broad Street before walking back to the hotel.

Two bars for the price of one

 

Birmingham: C’est Bon, but I think he was being polite.

‘How can you be bored here, there are lots of place to go and things to do’.

Fear of 40 - 18 months until leave the 30s group

Not a great start to this 18 month plan. I’m typing away crying my eyes out, so excuse the bad grammar and thank God for spellchecker. My glasses are steamed up and eyes full of tears. My cat passed away at the weekend, my car’s back window smashed in  and one of my few friends (and my French crush) has gone all distant on me without any reason and I know if I called him again so soon after our last pleasant conversation on New Year’s Eve I will officially be his pathetic stalker.  Ah oui give him space, offer my hand of friendship later on in the year.  Oh Come On! Don’t lie to myself, maybe call next month.  But it bloody hard when I’m so upset about my cat, my boss is driving me crazy and all I want is someone to talk too.

Anyway onwards and upwards! This is the first day of the rest of my life…etc etc blah blah.

Every Monday morning I dread my day of work, of course 99.9% of the population probably feel the same but it’s not so much the being overworked underpaid problem.  It’s the question that always gets asked – ‘what did you do at the weekend’.  I did this, I did that, we went here, friends came to visit etc. Then it’s my turn to answer ‘Nothing watched a bit of TV’.   I knew I would end up a lonely old cat lady living in Birmingham but I never imagined reaching this milestone at 38.

I long for the Mondays I can give a different answer or for the Mondays where I actually enjoy going to work. I just got to find that job – being chained to a desk, man managed and my work timed and documented is not the life I want. I’m very lucky to have a job but settling for any job isn’t good enough.  I have hope that the day will come when my situation will be Monday Blues free, but I want it to come sooner than later.

Have you ever seen Eat Pray Love starring Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert it’s an OK film nothing special but it did make me think about my situation. I’ve been back home (and single) for 6 years and was looking for some inspiration.

I like eating (and Italy), I only pray during football games, lottery draws and when my boss says ‘can I have a word’ before I get a bollocking and as for love, I can’t remember what that is. However the freedom to travel the world and experience new things and meeting new people makes my feet itchy again.  But where do I start?  Write my things to do before I’m 40 list and follow Elizabeth Gilbert example.  She started her journey by learning Italian, so maybe I should get the dust off my French books and give learning the language another go, well it will be my 4^th attempt after school, French best friend, and then evening classes.

Watermelons & Corners: Dirty Dancing - Birmingham Hippodrome

‘No one puts Baby in a corner’ and the audience screamed.

I’m not a big fan of the film (this was my sister and my cousin’s idea) and for my birthday last weekend I would have preferred to see Rock of Ages. But with the negative points stacking up (‘the Ages’ not being on tour, no friends to spend my birthday with and this was the only date we could get good tickets -7 rows from the front), this show turned my boring birthday into an excellent afternoon out.

Let me get the obvious out of the way, no one will ever equal or be half as good as the late Patrick Swayze. No one can fill his amazing dancing shoes and for the first act of this stage show this thought effected my judgement of Paul –Michael ‘Johnny Castle’ Jones, he was a brilliant dancer and a good actor and Jill ‘Baby’ Winternitz was excellent and her facial expressions were brilliantly timed and very comical.  By the second act I had forgotten about the movie actors, remembered how good the soundtrack was and accepted this different version.

The stage show included all the memorable scenes from the film: the river, the log, Johnny stroking Baby’s arm and her trying not to laugh, the watermelon and of course the end which was word for word. Yes ‘the time of my life’ was my favourite part of the show, but another highlight was when Johnny is in his underwear and he starts to put his trousers on and one lone female voice in the audience heaves a sigh of disappointment, queue laughter from the rest of the audience.

Dirty Dancing the stage show is a very close second to the film and deserved its standing ovation.

I wish more West End shows would go on tour; not everyone lives in or can afford to travel to London. Rock of Ages producers take note.