14 -17 July 2010 – Wednesday to Saturday
Oops – the title is wrong – just a typo.
It should have read The Booze in Birmingham.
For Gloria and Eily anyway.
Our time in Birmingham started with a flight from Milano on an aircraft operated by a company named FLYBE – we thought we were flying with British Airways, however I think that this might be the budget arm of BA. We were a bit surprised to find that if we wanted a drink of water, we would have to pay for it. Given that this one way flight cost almost $800 for the two of us, this was just a bit off-putting.
That aside, it was also the roughest flight that we have endured in terms of turbulence – very bumpy!
When we arrived at the airport, I was surprised at how relieved we were to be in a country where everybody understood our questions – and how comfortable we were.......
Birmingham is quite a large place – I’m not sure how many people live here, but it sure is a bustling and busy place. And we felt very much at home – everybody is very polite, friendly and nothing is too much trouble for their Aussie cousins. Their only problem is that they do drink some Fosters and apparently every Aussie tells them that it is rubbish beer, but they shrug their shoulders and just say that this is typical behaviour for the English, to drink everybody else’s rubbish beer.
Eily met us at the airport and took us to our hotel and then on to the basketball, where we watched Murray’s team suffer a surprise defeat in the quarter final to the French. The team was devastated and Murray actually drove back to his flat to ponder the day’s events and plan for the next match.
This left Eily, Gloria and I to find our way in the big city. Needless to say, the pattern for the next two days was set – they found a pub and in we went for food and drinks, and drinks, and drinks, and drinks.............we went back to the hotel armed with two bottles of red and I went to bed and left them to it. Gloria did come to bed eventually.
So the next day was spent shopping and then to the basketball and then to the pub.
And then the next day spent shopping and then to the basketball and then to the pub.
The only difference between day 1 and days 2 & 3 was that the team won their remaining two matches.
Murray’s team finished the tournament (Wheelchair Basketball World Cup) in 5th place with 7 wins and only one loss. France is in the final today – they have won 4 matches and lost 3 – work that one out! It was all to do with the structure of the finals.
We are off to the Cadbury factory today (Gloria has run out of tissues wiping the drool off her face) and then to Murray’s flat to wash clothes and we set off for Cornwall and Wales tomorrow.
Hope your work is fun.....we are having a great time.
