Midlands

As I stopped for lunch after a pleasant and productive morning's coding, I checked my calendar and spotted that my train was due to leave at 14:52, not 16:52! Cue something of a scramble! I did enough ironing, saw a neighbour to arrange feeding of Kermit, had enough of a shower, packed, and drove into Edinburgh. There I had 10 minutes with Mum before getting a bus to Waverley. By then I had enough time in hand to buy the lunch I hadn't had time to cook, and get on the train.

I'm off to a conference. I'm lucky with some of their locations, but this is the fifth time I've been to one that's always at Birmingham University. Growing up in a town that looked south to the Midlands, I went to school in a town that looks to the North, and that's the direction my family looked, too. Hence I can't love the Midlands. Birmingham University is an exception, though, in that its campus is attractive and my parents met there as students in the early 50's.

Having walked out from the city centre Birmingham is still an ugly mess, but I'm back in Colbeh, the great Persian restaurant I discovered a few years ago when I stayed in the same hotel. It's just 5 minutes walk, and an Iranian colleague told me that it's the best Persian restaurant in Birmingham.