RED In The Library

RED is the sculptural flash mob that we managed to catch in the gardens on top of the library.

In bright red they weren't hard to miss, but each communicated a story with their body language as they mingled in the crowd.

My favourites were this lady and little boy...

I have no idea what they were talking about, but I love the expression on the lady's face as she gobbled a cherry tomato...

And the story of this man...

And this woman...

...meeting as if by chance on top of the library...

...the start of a budding romance...

Bollywood Opening

Europe's largest library opened in Birmingham this week.  Saturday was opening weekend and the streets were full of entertainers and crowds circling them.

Birmingham has a large Asian population and it was no surprise that there was Bollywood Dancing in the open space in front of the library.

The first was an Asian group of girls.  Reminded me of my Diwali Show dancing days when I was young.  Although I had a nice clean stage floor and not the cold pavement that they were so bravely dancing bare-footed on.

I haven't danced to the sound of Bollywood since I nearly slipped and fell on the stage due to my ill-fitting outfit.  But despite my last experience I could still feel that leg twitch to the sound of the drums.

They seemed to be the only Asian group as the others were caucasian.  That flick of the hip seems to be an Asian thing that we were innately born with, as they weren't quite managing the hip wiggle.

Except for one lady who impressively knew all the words to the song.  I wonder if she actually knew what it meant.  But nevertheless, her singing along showed she was enjoying herself.

Meet the Finlayson's

This weekend was spent visiting the Finlayson's.  They are friends that I don't get to see very often, but when I do see them, it is like no time has passed at all.

They live a stone's throw away from Windsor, a town where the Queen has her castle; one that she still resides in a couple of times a year.

As it was my first time visiting them, we decided to be tourists for the day and to visit the grounds of the castle.  In the end it was just me and Mr F wandering around taking our pictures.  Mrs F ended up staying at home as she was feeling unwell.

Originally prophesied by her younger sister to be a virus that would have her bed-ridden for days, was luckily just a bad egg, having no impact on her appetite for Mr F's pancakes the next morning.  Or the sugar coma that was sure to hit after she loaded them up with layers of Nutella, Jam and Maple Syrup.

Food has always been a topic for us so it's good to see that some things never change.  Thanks for having me visit and it was good to catch up.  Look forward to seeing you both again soon.

In The Night Sky

Last week my Spanish Amiga pointed out that there was going to be a meteor shower (Perseid) over the weekend, starting from Friday.  With it being the UK, this was not a simple feat; every night over the weekend we looked up and saw clouds covering the night sky like a fluffy duvet, ruining any chance of even seeing a star.

Picture courtesy of Scott MacNeill of 2013 Perseid meteors at Frosty Drew Observatory in Charlestown, Rhode Island, USA.

Then on Monday night on my way home from a friends house I noticed that the sky was clear and on the radio they mentioned that tonight was the peak of the meteor shower.  Saw I called my Spanish Amiga and we, with our French Amie went on a tour of Birmingham to find a spot away from the lights to be able to watch the night sky.  In the end we settled for a park near our company social club and parked ourselves to watch what would happen.

Unfortunately I was only able to capture a series of dots in the night sky.  A little disappointing, especially as every time I was playing with the camera the girls would squeal with delight at the sight of a meteor shooting across the sky.

Picture courtesy of Tim Erskine of Perseid Fireball taken in Tahoe

In the end my Spanish Amiga told me to forget my camera and to come lie down with them.  It took a while to start seeing them, but as soon as you did it was one after the other.  We saw one that was really big so it must have been a fireball.

Zombie Outbreak in Birmingham

It was a typical Wednesday morning at work.  I'm engrossed in whatever spreadsheet I was looking at, when I hear my Spanish neighbour laugh and say 'I wonder if Nim would do it?'.  I look up to see her coming towards me with a devilish grin on her face.  I give her an inquisitive look and she points to my e-mail.  I click on a mail to find an advert for a Zombie walk through the streets of Birmingham for charity.

'That's awesome' I reply and she looks at me incredulously.  'You would do it?  I didn't think you would.'  I'm not a big fan of dressing up, but when it requires minimal effort and someone else is going to do your face paint, then why not?

Unfortunately the Zombie walk fell on the same day as Princess' birthday and I couldn't make both work.  I think a 2 year old would have been frightened if I turned up looking like the dead and the Carters less impressed if she ended up having nightmares.

In the end I sponsored my Spanish desk neighbour to get the full face paint works done.  And for this she has kindly given me some pictures of the day.  Needless to say they all looked awesome and were suitably scary Zombies.  Looks like halloween has come a bit early this year.

The Number 2

Today is Princess' 2nd Birthday Party and so much has changed since her last birthday.

Her hair can now be put into 2 bunches, she has learned to jump with her 2 feet and she can now string 2 words together to make a sentence.  She also knows what the camera is for and no longer needs to be cajoled into posing for it.  The above picture is proof of that.

In preparation for her birthday I had gone shopping a few weeks before to find her gifts.  I had to reign myself in to not go too crazy and ended up walking the floors of the shopping mall several times to make a decision on what to get.  In the end I settled for a Aqua Doodle and a Dress/Leggings combo.

Then closer to the date I was in a nearby shop and saw a pinata in the form of a rainbow coloured Donkey.  I couldn't resist and all restraint went out the window.  I got bags and bags of chocolate and sweets, not realising that you could only fill the body of the Donkey.

As I got into my car to make the journey to the birthday party, I realised that it was quite warm outside and double the temperature inside my car.  Warm temperature + chocolate =  not good news for my chocolate stuffed Donkey.   I ended up driving to the Carters with the windows fully open and the fans on full blast to stop the chocolate from melting.

In the end it all worked out ok.  The Donkey Pinata was a great choice.  On sight the first thing Princess wanted to do was ride it.  She even climbed a chair so that she could sit on it, not realising what it was for and what treats were hidden inside.

She even got into hitting the donkey, although I don't think she realised why everyone was having a go at it until Nannie literally broke the Donkey's back and all the bags of chocolate came flowing out.

Then came the mad dash to get all the chocolate and the squeals of delight of seeing it all over the floor.

Happy 2nd Birthday Princess.  I hope you had a fun day.
x

Wandering Around Wien

It is not often that a business trip gives time to visit the city I'm working in, but this time my work got delayed to the next day, which left me with a free afternoon/evening to wonder around Vienna.

The weather outside was perfect; warm yet breezy.  A beautiful day with clouds that gave the sky an amazing back drop to the architecture that made up the streets of Vienna.

As I wandered around I saw the sign for Pandora and got lured in by the prospect of a new charm (for those that know me well, know of my slight obsession with their range and to walk on by without popping in would have been quite a feat).  And as always, I wasn't disappointed.  The lady in there was fantastic, she came up with a choice of 8 charms and a story for each of them.

In the end I went for the horse and carriage as they were everywhere and it seemed to give the streets of Vienna that fairy tale charm to it.

A city to definitely visit again and to spend some quality time in to shop, listen to music, look at art and to soak up the atmosphere.