So what's the latest? Bored yet?

Thursday, 09 February 2012 13:19

The latest what? Well, news of narrowboat Epiphany, I suppose! What are we doing to pass the time in frozen Birmingham? What is there to do when we are iced-in?

Epiphany in the ice and snow in Birmingham

Birmingham is a good place to be stuck .....

Except I am inclined to stay in the warm and "hug" the fire. However to prevent myself going stir crazy I have to get out of the environs of a narrowboat occasionally. So it is coat, hat, gloves, boots and about 5 layers of clothing and out I/we go.

Yesterday we took advantage of "Orange Wednesday" and went to the cinema. War Horse is a good film, but I was not too fond of the war scenes. Take some tissues if you are going to see it. Before that we visited the University of Birmingham and had lunch with my brother.

The gap in Chancellors Court is now filled

The Music Department is going to have a new building here - The Bramall Building. The Bramall Music building as envisaged by the planners is nearly completed and we were impressed by the attention to detail and how well it fits with the older buildings - the main differences being the windows and the "state of the art" interior. Here is how it looks now, via the webcam.

Some things in Birmingham City centre are free. As people with a limited budget we try to take advantage of these! The main Museum and Art Gallery in Chamberlain Square has free entrance, but some exhibitions have entrance fees. Other galleries and museums "are available"! The Ikon Gallery was once just a kiosk in the Bullring and is now housed in the restored Victorian Oozells Street School.

The Ikon Gallery in Oozells Square has a good cafe/restaurant

On Friday evenings there are free concerts in the Symphony Hall cafe. We went to Rush Hour Blues last week and will again tomorrow as there seems to be no chance of moving this weekend. 

Symphony Hall

The bus services in and around Brum are good - the parks such as Cannon Hill Park are easily reached. Of course there is the heritage of the buildings and canals to explore and a visit to the Visitor Information Centre in the Central Library will harvest plenty of information leaflets. There is a heritage walk, the Jewellery Quarter, the sculpture trail and Barber Institute art gallery and other attractions at the University to list a few other ideas.

Faraday Statue at the University