Birmingham Bound

After an amazing weekend playing hooky from home improvement (thank heavens!) in sunny Edinburgh (the locals assured me this was entirely unusual), it is back to the grind with the weekly trip to Birmingham. For those unfamiliar with "The Brum" it's the second largest city in England (tied with about three other cities that make the same claim), located in West Midlands-- which, not surprisingly, means the west, middle of the country. Despite having to make this hour and a half trek weekly, I embarrassingly don't know much about the city-- with the exception of it being, like most cities outside of London, a former industrial giant, fallen into disrepair and now experiencing a Renaissance of sorts, with old factories being converted to usable space in the form of dual purpose residence and social buildings (a lot of the same is happening in Manchester). I have to say I do like this trend of melding the old and the new-- rather than knocking down history for shiny new builds. When the architects get it right, it can be breathtaking. And philosophically, the juxtaposition of industrial and residential space, and transforming the function of a space is just, well, incredible.

But as usual, I digress.

Birmingham is located in what's known as the Black Country. And, no, that is not a racial reference. It's because during the industrial revolution, the dominance of coal mines and factories in the region, combined, no doubt, with the cloud cover-- it is England after all, quite literally made the air black. Wouldn't you like to have seen those people's lungs? Thankfully the air is black no more-- so my lungs are safe in case you were worried.

While I often write about my desire for wayfaring, work travel is not my favorite. I am a creature of habit, and I like to plan, so working offsite disrupts my rhythm and then I spend the rest of the week feeling like I am behind. Especially since this weekly trip always falls on a different day and it is increasingly stretching to two, sometimes three days-- meaning hotel stays and missing my daily calls to my sis, which I really hate. Not to mention my bed Is MUCH more comfy than any hotel bed I can find (well, except maybe the Four Seasons...).

Good news though (for the two of you who check my blog since it has been so sporadic), I've figured out how to email blog posts from my iPhone. So hopefully I can keep the blogging up even when on the road.

More to come on Edinburgh (with photos-- of people, even!) when I return from The Brum...

Posted from my iPhone