How Cute !

We were sat on the boat yesterday afternoon with the front door open to let the sun in.  Someone stepped onto the foredeck, and a Japanese face peered in. “Is this your house ?” he enquired, to which we could only reply “Yes”.  ” How cute !” was his parting comment, as the dogs half heartedly suggested he’d better move on !

He was obviously a tourist, and you might wonder why anyone would want to come on holiday to Birmingham. However being visitors ourselves has given us an opportunity to see just how much the city has geared itself up to look after both temporary and permanent residents. Yesterday we spent a couple of hours in the new library. The Library? you ask.  At a cost of £189 million, it is a sensational building – reputedly the largest library in Europe. Very modern, and accessible to all.  Nine floors in total with garden terraces on the 4th and 7th floors, and ‘skyline’ viewing area on the top floor complete with comfy arm chairs, and far reaching views.

Birmingham Library from Centenary Square

Centenary Square from Birmingham Library

View of our boat from the library (roughly in the middle of the picture)

There are a variety of new buildings around the city centre, one of which is ‘The Cube’ – apartments and restaurants etc.

The Cube

Having said that, not more than a stone’s throw away is the remnants of former canal side industry – strangely haunting in a way as it was in Birmingham, the ‘city of a thousand trades’ that much of the UKs wealth was originally generated.

The photos below are from the Farmers Bridge flight of 13 locks leaving the city centre in a North Easterly direction. Some of the flight is underground in dark tunnels, and passing up this way a few years ago we came across a number of ‘goths’ (dressed in black, with black hair, black makeup etc) all huddled together in a corner. I felt they ought to be hanging from the roof really ! The setting for the locks varies from old and derelict buildings, to modern apartments. The covered lock in the photo below is under the BT Tower in the city.

The ‘posher’ underground lock

A ‘scruffy’ lock

Stylish new apartments – with a view through to the Newman’s Coffin Works !

A final bit of architecture had us puzzled for a while. In the sides of virtually every bridge over the canals in Birmingham, there are little red doors, some solid, some with grills. Were they to drain floodwater? Were they fishing access points ? The actual reason for them is obvious when you realise – the fire brigade can use them as access for pumping water to put out fires. Makes sense with so much water about – Birmingham has more canals than Venice !