Photograph of a poster in Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke created ‘Foreign Exchange’ for the Birmingham 2022 Festival. He reimagined the sculpture of Queen Victoria in the city centre, surrounding the bronze statue with a boat containing five smaller Queen Victorias. Each wears a helmet and carries a medal relating to an important colonial battle. Hew Locke described the statue ‘leading a battalion of other statues to represent the home nation throughout the Empire’. After the Festival he generously donated the five smaller Queen Victorias to the city.*

*Information from a signboard next to the Victorias

On a misty Sunday morning we travelled to Birmingham to visit the Staffordshire Hoard now that the museum is fully open again after refurbishment.

We found the archaeology theme interesting but were underwhelmed by what was on display. I think part of the problem is that the special items are not ’showcased’ and the lighting is quite dim casting the exhibits in shadows.

I did however enjoy the architecture of the building as seen from the upper floor.

Ozzy Osbourne

We enjoyed lunch and an afternoon walk around Winterbourne Gardens. For some reason the gate to the reservoir was closed leaving us slightly dissapointed.

Mum had an early appointment in the fracture clinic to assess progress on her broken arm. The appointment ran smoothly but as I suspected she needs to keep the plaster cast on for another couple of weeks. The doctor, a charming young man sat down next to mum when she was disappointed that the plaster cast had to stay for a little longer. On the plus side he told us that the fracture was healing nicely.

The hassle-free appointment allowed Mr C and I to venture into Birmingham to find a board game shop, Wayland’s Forge that we haven’t visited for years. It has moved location since our previous visit and is now located in the Zellig building, part of the Custard Factory.

We had lunch in the city centre before making our way to Digbeth where Wayland’s Forge is located.

Near to the location it wasn’t obvious where we needed to be and were thankful when a gentleman asked us what we were looking for. He gave us perfect directions and informed us that he was the maintenance man for the building.

Just inside the building we encountered a strange sculpture which I later found was titled ‘The deluge’.

The board game shop was well stocked, the owner was friendly and welcoming and after much deliberation I chose to buy an expansion (Pantheon) to 7 Wonders Duel, a two-player game that Mr C and I enjoy playing together.

On leaving the building Mr C noticed another sculpture, the figure looked Godly but I later found out that the sculpture is entitled ‘The Green Man’. Both sculptures are by Toin Adams.

We headed out of the city, the long way round for afternoon refreshments in Boundary Mill. It was a bonus that I found the perfect shoulder pouch to house my phone, keys, sun glasses and money when I am volunteering at Attingham Park. I feel so uncomfortable stowing these items in my coat pockets and if the weather ever warms up there will be no coat pockets.

Later we enjoyed ‘Fine Dining’ at Chez Nous.

Last weekend Mr C purchased two suits in Birmingham. They required tailoring so this weekend we returned to pick them up. This gave me the opportunity for a healthy walk around Birmingham follwed by an indulgent browse around Boundary Mill on our way home.

We had a bit of miscommunication on how we were going to get to the train station. I thought we were walking, there had been mention of Glühwein from the Christmas market…

I know how long it takes me to walk to the station and time was running short so I went on ahead and told Mr C I would meet him at the station. When I had been at the station for a few minutes there was no sign of him catching me up so I phoned to see where he was and thought there was no way he was going to get to the station on time. A few minutes later I saw him running towards the platform, arriving just as the train pulled into the station. Talk about cutting it fine. Later he mentioned that he intended that we should drive to the station!

There was standing room only on the train which meant by the time we arrived in Birmingham my left knee had become a bit stiff. This caused me to stumble on the stairs and bang my leg. Oops! The young man behind me helped me regain my balance and walked beside me for the last few steps of the stairway.

At the top of the stairway, I was impressed to see Ozzy the mechanical bull that was created for the Commonwealth Games.

This years Christmas market and Christmas lights were less impressive so I wasn’t able to take my replacement camera through its paces.

Back in Wellington we had just missed the Christmas Lights ‘Switch On’. The lights looked lovely lighting up the town. The atmosphere was lovely and uplifiting with a long queue waiting to enter the market’s late night opening event.  We visited one of the local hostelries (which was packed to the seams) for a glass of something warming before our walk home.

Ray Grigg