Birmingham

We've decided not to return to Bournville next week to visit Cadbury World.  That's mainly because we were rudely awoken at 3.00am by some scroat throwing stones at the boat, but also because I've been hearing and reading reports that it's not worth the visit.  Close inspection of the boat this morning revealed a few small stones on the roof but thankfully no damage to the paintwork or windows.  Chico had done his usual useless guard dog impression and hidden under the bed!

On the way into Birmingham we stopped in between bridges 79 & 80 and I went to Sainsbury's to stock up while Roger and Chico stayed on the boat.  On the way back my trusty "granny trolley" decided it was overloaded and the reinforcing panel in the base of the shopping bag gave up the ghost and split in two.  Being car-less means I rely heavily (in more ways than one) on my trolley but as there was nothing wrong with the wheelie frame or the rest of the bag I didn't see the point in scrapping it and shelling out for a new one.  It just needed a bit of lateral thinking to fix it and, if possible, make it stronger into the bargain.

This is what we came up with.

I had a spare unused chopping board which Roger's screwed to the frame to support the weight of the shopping bag.  We did consider putting another insert in the bottom of the bag, but by doing it this way it means we'll be able to use the trolley for carrying other things, like bags of coal in the winter.

Since we were here 2 months ago Birmingham has become highly floral.

The city centre was extremely crowded today as there was a special event on to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jamaica's Independence. There were several reggae bands performing on the stage and lots of stalls selling Jamaican food specialities like curry goat, jerk chicken, ackee and salt fish etc.  People were buying their food and either sitting listening to the music or sitting watching the Olympics on the big screen.

We didn't linger long as I needed to go to the market.  I just LOVE Birmingham market.  Not only do they have amazing fruit and veg bargains, but the meat and fish market are fantastic too.  We eat a lot of fish so I got 7 big sea bass for £10.

When you consider how much they charge for sea bass in restaurants I thought this was a real bargain.

We're now moored outside the NIA, hopefully in a nice safe spot, right under the CCTV camera.

Fellow Bloggers Graham and Jill on n.b. Armadillo are moored opposite and have invited us over for drinks after dinner.  I'm really looking forward to it, see you later guys.