Today we visited a National Trust property in Birmingham called the Birmingham Back to Back’s. This was an interesting and humbling (if that’s not too trite a word) experience. Firstly, the reason I found it humbling, my mothers side of the family lived in a back to back just up the road from there. They lived there at the turn of the 19th Century, were button/badge workers and had 3 generations living in the house, one grand parent, mother and father, five children and a lodger. So there were 9 people living in 3 or more likely 2 rooms, working a 70 hour week and having no running water and sharing an outside loo (well bucket) with up to around 60 other people. So to see this and to know how comfortable we live now is humbling.
The interesting part is, I guess, a voyeuristic one, to see first hand how the poor lived is, I feel, far more interesting than visiting a stately home. To see how they decorated the rooms, how they cooked and lived their lives. How they coped without privacy, entertained themselves and how their hard lives shortened their lives. I would have been an old man at my age, if I had lived that long.
It was interesting to see that they flavoured their food with spices such as cloves, star anise and nutmeg. I wonder what they would have thought of our bland English food that is served up in many homes today?
Bedrooms packed with children and even in one house we saw the children’s bedroom was shared (with a blanket acting as a separator) an unmarried couple lodging with the family (total people sleeping in the room – 6, 4 children sleeping top to toe in a bed).
Strangely the 1840 home, which housed a Jewish family and in fact the area was the Jewish quarter for much of its life, was despite the lack of modern trappings more homely than the 1930’s home that had electricity and running water.
I really would recommend a visit if possible, the lady taking us round was very well informed and entertaining.
Got home this evening to discover that the Internet is down and not working. This is the second time in a couple of months that it has played up. The 12 month contract we have with them is looking a long one.
But how are you writing this? I hear you cry! Well, with the old trusted mobile phone, a length of cable and bingo you have the Internet and quicker than the old dial up service used to be :)
Off to see the Birmingham Back to Backs tomorrow, which is interesting to me as some of my great grand parents lived there (or very near by) at the turn of the 19th/20th century. They were 3 generations all living in a couple of rooms and working as badge enamel workers. See! brummy to the very core!
Back in the office for a day before disappearing for a few days to Wales.
I rode in this morning on the Vespa and, of course, as this is Britain and as this is Birmingham I got thoroughly soaked. And as this is also the country of austerity (ok not quite) I am going to have to fight to get a heater to dry my wet jeans on.
Yes I know putting a heat on in the middle of summer is not “Environmentally correct” but as I did my bit for the planet by using said Vespa I feel justified!
Wales dwells in a dark part of my heart, whilst I know it has rugged beauty and even that some of my forbears came from there, it is still the place where, as a child, we moved to for a few traumatic years. I was around the age of 11, very impressionable and English and bullied continually by the local Welsh children and by the Welsh teachers alike. But this was also the place where I saw the wonderful Barry John play which almost makes up for the abuse.
Blues never give us an inch do they?
The season is a little over a week away and so far we have won just one of our preseason friendlies and with only one left, a home game against Sporting Gijon from the La Lega, to some it all looks a little worrying.
The board have put their money where their mouth is ( and no thats not David Sullivan's back pocket for a change) and been on a buying spree bringing in the likes of Christian Benitez, Scott Dann, Joe Hart and Roger Johnson, to name but a few.
With all these new signings and the apparent lack of good performances one begins to wonder how they will fair on the opening day of the season and for the season as a whole and, whilst I don't expect miracles, it would be nice for a few things to happen such as winning a fair amount of home games, playing a passing game and the biggest ask of all having a vocal support!
Should the above happen we would stand an outside chance of staying in the prem and developing further.
But, there are already people calling for McCliesh to sacked before a ball has been kicked in anger so all I can realistically see, along with the bad preseason matches, is a season of continued struggle.
Unity seems to be a dirty word at St Andrews.
I recently got back from a camping trip that we had organised for our "young peoples'" environmental activity group.
Taking twelve 10 - 13 year olds away for an over night camping trip may seem like a crazy thing to do to most and I have a lot of sympathy for that view. Also, on the face of it, it is especially crazy when taking kids from the area I work in and when the trip is in the UK where weather can be a bit of a problem (so much for the long range weather forecast of a long hot summer!)
The major obsession of the kids seemed to do these 3 things, climb anything they can, fight, get as muddy as possible. If they could have done all three at the same time I am sure they would have reached nirvana.
We were staying with at scout campsite and they had prepared several activities for the kids to take part in. The activities were led by a rather strange man who had a very slow and deliberate way of speaking and an amazing ability to make something that is interesting incredibly boring.
The kids have this ability to do everything at 100mph which was impressive as is their staying power (they eventually calmed down around 12:30am)
The second day was a dreadful washout as the heavens opened and the place became a quagmire, perfect for the kids to indulge in mud wallowing.
Whilst the trip is not high on my list of things I would like to do again, I am not naturally child friendly, it was actually not that bad.
I have had a shocking realisation Birmingham is not the centre of the universe :( I know it has dragged itself up by its boot straps over the last few years, but I believed it had progressed further than elsewhere, I believed that the rest of the country had stood still. Well I have been a fool. A few years ago I went and visited Bournemouth and came away thinking what a dump, so it was with some reluctance that I accepted an invite to go back there yesterday for a conference. Bournemouth, it seems, has also reinvented it's self and has done so in a way that is much more appealing than Birmingham. It has stepped out from the cheesy seaside town where the elderly go for their last few years and has now become a vibrant city that celebrates its proximity to the sea, regenerating its seafront so it now attracts the "surf" set, no mean feat for a bay that picks up very little swell. The city centre is multi cultural, independent coffee shops, deli's and restaurants abound. Now here is my point, Bournemouth was busy, as you would expect a seaside town to be in peak season, but not as busy as Birmingham is on a normal working day. So why is it that Birmingham struggles to deliver a regeneration that encourages pride in its manufacturing heritage, its multiculturalism and why is it that we only seem to have chain restaurants in the city centre (Chez Jule and Michelle’s apart)? No deli's, no independent coffee shops? Just chain shops, chain restaurants and chain coffee shops?
The fact is, that whilst being a busy place and full of busy people, we are not an international city!
We are a city without identity.