Maiden

Birmingham, October 1st

Sister and brood had been bugging me to go visit them in Banbury and must have gotten fed up with my prevaricating as they arrived in Bournville this morning. Actually they weren’t just coming to see me – Banbury is only a 50 minute drive away and a day out in Birmingham makes a nice change it being a city and having city sized things.

Since the weather has done that dramatic change thing with the thunder and rain and cold we figured indoors was the best idea and went for the Sea Life Centre which I could vouch for having worked there for a week as an otter a couple of years ago.

It was great though keeping track of two toddlers in the dark did mean dwelling over the tanks wasn’t a big option. I still highly recommend it. Not too busy on a Sunday either. Took the TTV contraption which wasn’t entirely successful given the low lighting (should have packed a flash really) but did get some gems before the batteries ran out.

Afterwards we went to the newish Handmade Burger Co restaurant by the canal in Brindley Place (no website I can find but here’s a photo). I can’t recommend this place enough. The ambiance is perfect, the music very pleasing (Pixies track! Woo!) and the food utterly fantastic at very reasonable prices. Possible the best burger I’ve ever had outside of Texas. I will be going there again.