As I was on holiday for half of October I decided to combine my monthly ‘out in’ post for October and November. Sooooo… even more to talk about! Now were did we go in the last two month:
Pitstop at Yorks: My housemate Annmarie was in the Birmingham Future Graduate Apprentice scheme last year and every month Birmingham Future organises a free drop-in event non-members can attend. She had told me about it before and I was quite interested to try it out. The one in October we went to was a breakfast session, from 7.30 until 9am but I saw on their website that they do them over lunchtime now, which might be more convenient for people. Breakfast is my all time favourite though and Yorks does that well! I went along with Annmarie and met a couple of nice people there, although it’s always a bit different when you go to a networking event with someone. I am curious to see how the format works over lunchtime so will definitely try to attend the January one.
5 Guys: the crème de la crème of fastfood, at least that is how we see it. We go every month and BOY do we look forward to that! Delish burgers, toppings galore, more soft drink flavours than your mind can handle, do I need to say more?!
Wetherspoons Paradise Forum: Cheap, convenient location and you know exactly what your money is worth in Spoons, so we found ourselves sipping beers or eating chips in there quite a few times in the past two months. Especially with the German market in town the place is more crowded than ever.
The Wellington: When I walked into the Wellington I thought for a second that I was the only girl in there. It did take a good 5 seconds to actually spot two other women in there. But if you look at the selection of beers and ales the place has, you understand the pub’s attraction to the male population of Birmingham and beyond. Not that fond of ales, I rate pubs by the selection of beers they have and I am always on the lookout for a good old Belgian one. I probably paid twice or three times the price I would pay for a Tripel Karmeliet at home, but hey, you do not see one often over here.
The Lost and Found: At work we have ‘casual Friday’ every Friday, so I always feel very underdressed if we venture out to the L&F on a Friday night. On every other evening I love blending right in, sipping my fancy cocktail, enjoying the buzz, the nice interior and the people-watching. They no longer have my favourite cocktail (part of their summer selection methinks) so I will have to find myself a new favourite for the winter time.
On a nice, autumny Saturday I wandered around the city centre, did some shopping and had a bit of me-time at 6/8 Kafé with a chai latte and vegan chocolate-raspberry cake on the side. I then found out by accident that the Birmingham Christmas Lights Switch On was taking place that very day. Now, you have to imagine coming back from 30°C and palm trees in Indonesia to 4°C in Birmingham and Halloween, Bonfire Night and Christmas lights being switched on all in the scope of one week! A bit too much if you ask me…
As I work close to Brindley Place we often end up there for a nice lunch with some colleagues. And with my Brindley Place Card I get a discount in most places, which gives us an even bigger reason to go. In the last couple of weeks we tried out lunch at Cafe Rouge (2-4-1 deal, we had baguette poulet and demi poulet), Pizza Express (the Brindley Place Card gives you 10% off, but if you subscribe to Pizza Express you often get offers for -20% in your inbox) and Pitcher & Piano (10% off food & drink – I had the chicken, bacon, brie and potato salad).
When I came back from my holidays there was another thing I had to face: the dark. It gets dark at 4pm, so I cannot go running along the canal anymore after work. In an attempt to stay in some sort of shape this winter I joined our gym around the corner: Pure Gym. It can get quite crowded but it is pretty cheap (18£/month) and without contract, which is good for me as God knows when Spring will actually kick in here.
On a Friday night we like to go for after work drinks with the colleagues, as you might get from my blog posts. A couple of weeks back my colleague Sara organised an outing to the Victoria, which is one of the cosier pubs I have been to in Birmingham. After a couple of drinks there we went down to Digbeth for some burgers from the Original Patty Men at Digbeth Dining Club. Cannot believe it was only the second time I made it to DDC, what a great concept, the street food revolution that takes place every Friday in good ol’ Brum. To warm up afterwards we went to the Old Crown for some drinks – rumour has it this place is the oldest pub in all of Birmingham.
Some birthday festivities as well in November: we had a nice birthday lunch for a colleague at Alfie Birds at the Custard Factory – their burgers and pizza have been approved! Later on we went to the Old Joint Stock for a Blues Opera! It was called ‘Songs from a Ledge‘ and I had never seen anything like it but it was really fab! Should definitely do more live gigs, I tend to forget how much I enjoy them!
We organised two conferences with work at the Conference Aston Event Space and I have to say that I was really impressed with the venue: the service from the personnel, the event spaces, the rooms, everything of great quality!
Last but not least, as you cannot ignore it these days: the Christmas Market is overly present in Birmingham. We have been twice with the colleagues, which was really nice, but I feel I have seen it now. Unfortunately, the City of Birmingham does not agree with me and the market will be around a while longer, so I will have to stick with my alternative routes to Birmingham New Street for now.
Bits of Brum 