lunch with terry

Lunches with my good friend, Terry, invariably involve copious liquid refreshment and this being the height of summer it's essential to stay properly hydrated.

We start off at Primitivo and wash down a very respectable piscine sharing-platter with a good bottle of white. Usually at this point we retire to The Wellington, Birmingham's finest real ale bar but today we choose to venture out into the Jewellery Quarter. 

After a short, but pleasant walk we chance upon the Pig and Tail, a splendid bar come bistro refurbished very tastefully some three years ago. We're served by the friendly landlady who tells us a little of the history of the building whilst pouring us each a rather fine pint of the curiously named, 'Shin Digger'.

Suitably refreshed we set off again, this time to visit the famous Rose Villa Tavern, nestled in the heart of the Jewellery Quarter next to the historic clock. The Tavern is a Grade 2 listed building and boasts tiled walls, fantastic stained-glass windows and an old GPO telephone box by the door.

The beer is good and the decor is fine, but somehow it seems to lack the friendliness of the Pig and Tail. We drink up and move on.

At the start of our return leg we admire the many beautiful Victorian buildings dotted around the area. Even the abandoned factories have a certain faded charm all of their own.

 

Before crossing the bridge back to the city centre we stop off for a beer outside the Actress and Bishop on Ludgate Hill. Apart from the excellent live music hosted here on a daily basis, the pub is famous for being the site of the last public hanging in Birmingham.

Thankfully, the only rope we encounter is encircling the outside drinks area where we consume another welcome pint.

 

And so onward to the city. We spot a random pair of abandoned trousers on the bridge across Great Charles Street. Perhaps the uncommonly warm weather has tempted a passing pedestrian to cast caution to the wind and unleash his whitened nether-regions on the unsuspecting public for an impromptu mid-bridge sunbathing session.

Safe on the city side things turn more serious. Waves of office-workers stream past us, freshly released from their air-conditioned pens. The vast majority are on their mobile phones, oblivious to our presence and indeed much, if not all, of their immediate environs. Smiles seem hard to come by.

The penultimate stop on our alcohol fueled tour of Birmingham's best is the chilled basement of the Post Office Vaults, a hidden jewel in the crown.

Terry eschews the extensive bottled beer menu and calls for two Trappiste ales of mind-blowing potency.

Terry's train is almost due at the station but there's still time for one last pint before we slur our farewells. We take it in quiet side room at the back of the Old Joint Stock.

 

dog-sitting

We've been dog-sitting this week for our eldest daughter.  Ellie (the cross) is now seventeen and Murphy (the whippet) is thirteen. Despite their years they still enjoyed their daily walk with Roscoe.

 

simple pleasures - the gallery

 

 

our ruby wedding anniversary

Forty years ago today we walked out of church as husband and wife.  It was a small wedding by modern standards - no huge, day-long party stretching out into the early hours.  It was just a simple church service, photos then a reception at a local hotel.

We left with 'L-plates' on the car only to sneak back a few hours later once everyone had gone. We married young and had no spare money whatsoever so the offer of a free room for the night as part of the hotel wedding package was just too good to refuse.

So where should we eat our first meal on our own as a married couple? We walked along the beach where we had done so much of our courting as teenagers and bought fish and chips from a seaside cafe. They were truly delicious and we wanted for nothing - we had each other.

We've celebrated every wedding anniversary since then with a fish and chip meal to remind us where we've come from. Over the years we've been so fortunate to eat in places as varied as a famous fish restaurant in Paris, on the wall outside a chippie in a Norfolk coastal town and down in the basement of family-run Jewish restaurant in Budapest.

Today was no exception. We celebrated with a plate of fish-fingers and chips before settling down to watch some tear-jerking videos from our past rescued by our eldest daughter as our ruby wedding anniversary present.

Simple food, simple times, simple love - what could be better.

simple pleasures no. 10 - heaven in a wild flower

Well, not quite wild. It's actually the head of a cultured allium, grown in our back garden. There is, however, a significance in the title to this photo which I will come onto in a moment.

I love alliums. They bring late spring colour, then as the flower-head fades it reveals the beautiful skeletal globe holding the seeds of the next generation. In more ways than one, life comes full circle.

Which brings us back neatly to the very first posting in this series - 'Time Has Told Me' the title of a song by the late Nick Drake.  It featured on an early compilation album, 'Heaven in a Wild Flower', released following his premature death.

As I look back on the photos I've taken and the words I've written I begin to realise my simple pleasures of life lie in those good things which feed my body, my mind and my spirit.  What better way to finish than with some more superb music by Nick Drake.

 

simple pleasures no. 9 - sandman

Despite my ever increasing years I still love a good comic/graphic novel and this is one of, if not the, very best.  Written by Neil Gaiman over a seven year period it features a family known as the Endless, the members of whom are Dream, Destiny, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium and Destruction.

The books contain multiple over-lapping story arcs incorporating history, literature, mythology, philosophy and faith. If you haven't heard of 'Sandman' go take a look - it will blow your socks off!

simple pleasures no. 8 - the kissing couple

This simple little automaton has a rather special place in our collection. It was the very first I bought, a gift for my wife.  It came from the magnificent Cabaret Mechanical Theatre in Covent Garden, now sadly closed for many years.

Rotate the handle in a clock-wise direction and a series of small cogs and spindles spin the couple's heads together then apart. A gentle kiss as the couple great each other before they turn to face the operator of the handle, still embraced in each other's arms.

It makes me feel both romantic and slightly voyeuristic at one and the same time, almost as if I am spying on another couple's simple joy in life!