The "Old" New Central Library, Birmingham

had a great day today, getting out for a walk with my walking partner for the first time since February. A busy schedule on both are parts has caused a hiatus in our walks and for the first time in four years we didn't have a walking holiday.

So, with a free day what did we choose to do? We walked along the Birmingham Navigation Canal from my home into the middle of Birmingham! Did we bite off more than we could chew? Probably! Am I completely knackered sitting here filling out this journal entry? Definitely! Would I do it all over again? Too right!

The main reason for choosing this route was the weather forecast. Fog, potential rain, not great conditions for the wilds of Wales or the Peak District. The route was calculated out at just under 18 miles. In the end we walked almost 22!

This is right at the end of the walk, having come in via Brindley Place we'd walked past the Brand New Central Library. I know this has been blipped by a number of local Blippers.

It's just that I can't come to terms with this building in the picture not being the "New" Central Library, as I remember going in to it in wonder as a child within a few weeks of it opening in January 1974. The inverted ziggurat form was not popular with some, including Prince Charles who attacked the building saying it looked like "a place where books are incinerated, not kept".

Doesn't time fly?