Birmingham New Street Station. Yes, really.

When I heard I had to go to Birmingham for a meeting this morning I was delighted. I haven’t been to Birmingham New Street station for ages and I knew it had been remodelled. And I’d have a chance to take the afternoon off and see the new library. And look at that over-sized sulking slug with its silver suction pads. A treat of an afternoon in store.
 
Then I was offered an interview in Oxford this afternoon which would mean leaving the meeting dead on time and heading straight back. Ah well, at least I’d see the station. And so I… well, I did, sort of. What a disorientation! Where once there were platforms with escalators up to a corridor giving access to all the other platforms, now you emerge in the middle of a bewildering shopping centre and the station has dematerialised along with your sense of direction. To find a train you have to hunt for an announcement board, find out which colour ‘lounge’ it leaves from (lounge?) and its platform number then look for signs pointing to the relevant lounge. They seem to be at opposite compass points. Surely they haven’t really ripped up and moved all the tracks and platforms? All completely bizarre.
 
West Midlands people, tell me: Is it possible to learn your way round? Do you still actually use trains or can you learn to teleport from the green lounge?
 
This image was taken by my whimpering phone all by itself when I finally found the door to the outside world. I think it was trying to calm itself down.