Out And About

Over a week since my last post! So, what have I been up to?  Not much going on in the week although last Thursday saw the return of Big Brother!

Having ended on Channel 4 last year, Channel 5 not only bought the format but also the set and voice over man by the looks of things.  Last Thursday saw it's launch with Celebrity Big Brother. I was surprised by the lack of celebrities.  Bored from the outset I've not bothered with it and from what I can gather I'm not the only one.

Thursday also saw Birmingham City play their first match in a bona fide European competition for about 50 years.  Away to CD Nacional in Portugal in the Europa League they were unlucky not to come away with a win, having hit the woodwork 3 times.  It ended up 0-0 with the return leg at St Andrew's on Thursday.

I would have loved to have been there but instead had to make do with the live text on the BBC.

Friday and Clare and I headed for The Electric Cinema to see The Guard.  Having been given the 4 seater sofa (for the price of two) I settled back with my G&T and a bowl of olives to watch the film.  It's a great way to start the weekend and the film did not disappoint.

Starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle it tells the story of  a policeman in a small Irish town who, with the help of an FBI agent, smash a drug smuggling ring. 

I really enjoyed it and thought Gleeson was fantastic.  From the outset you are laughing aloud although I think it is pitched just right with the more poignant moments bringing you down to earth. I thoroughly recommend seeing this if you can.

On Saturday we headed off to Slimbridge Wildlife & Wetland Trust.  Although they have a large collection of birds it is also a fantastic place to see wild birds.  I didn't see as many new ones as I'd hoped but can now add Bar Tailed Godwit, Green Sandpiper, Redshank and Rook to my list.

When we first arrived we had a spot of rain but it brightened up as the day went on.  It was a good day out and met a lovely bloke in one of the hides who was happy to let us use his scope. We chatted for so long that it meant we didn't have time to get over to the River Severn and the last hide.  That will have to wait for another time.  We also met a few odd people including a strange fellow on the way to New Street Station (he must have mentioned he worked part time at a local college at least 3 times in 5 minutes) and a taxi driver who was heavily in debt but had a love of flying machines (gyrocoptors, microlites etc.).

The only downside to the day were the trains on our journey home.  First we were delayed by 30 minutes at Gloucester and by over an hour at  Birmingham Moor Street. This meant it took us over 4.5 hours to get home!

Sunday was spent shopping in Birmingham and later that day my parents popped over for a couple of hours.

As usual the weekend flew by and before I knew it the working week was upon me once again.