At the back of the Hilton hotel at Anderston around 2 pm there were two fire engines in attendance spraying . It looked like a spillage that was being neutralised. Relating to a lorry parked there presumably .
A group of workers are now clearing up the materials. Clearly folks were evacuated from either the Hilton or from the adjacent building . Around 2.45 pm they were allowed to return .
Just next to the NEC are a few small man made lakes and these ponds were looking quite photogenic.
Birmingham looking nice
Birmingham looking nice
Anyone who has travelled to Birmingham will understand that it is as far from idyllic sandy beaches as is humanly possible. The road systems are enough to induce any kind of serious mental disorder, the many industries create novel pollutants and car parking is nigh on impossible. A little bit cruel but you get the picture. So in the few hours that I had there my challenge was to take photographs to make Birmingham look nice. To make it look a place that the tourist industry might promote, in the same way that this was attempted (?achieved) with cities like Bradford.
An hour walking around the car parks of the Hilton Metropole hotel at NEC and the car parks of the NEC found these photos below, well maybe the fruit and the Raspberry Bakewell came from inside the hotel. But this proves that niceness can exist in Birmingham after all.
Birmingham with Pylons
Birmingham looking nice
Birmingham looking nice
Birmingham looking nice
Birmingham looking nice
Birmingham looking nice
Birmingham looking nice
The volume of food continues to amaze me. For example a lunch order of what I understood to be strips of chicken with salad arrived, and it was actually very nice eaten with great company, but it was covered with about half a pound of crumbled blue cheese. So salad yes, healthy option, to impress my dining companion, became a calorific disaster zone from which I may need medications to elevate my HDL. But it does not stop there, oh no. Pots of strange sauces, the one that was earmarked for me looked like a sort of cocktail sauce. Around a litre……I exaggerate , but not by much. And just when I thought this meal size was looking vaguely normal otherwise…..4 bread rolls in a basket. So a salad turns into something you would go to Weightwatchers for a month to try and recuperate from. This lunch meal I did survive. Then around 4 hours later the executive lounge here ( sounds grand but equals free food and drink in UK and only free food here) serves what they term ” Hors D’oeuvres”. Now here I want to show you how the various dictionaries define ” Hors D’oeuvres”. This is your selection:
1. A small savory dish, typically one served as an appetizer at the beginning of a meal.
2.A small bit of appetizing food, as spicy meat, fish, cheese, or a preparation of chopped or creamed foods, often served on crackers or small pieces of toast, for eating at cocktail parties or other gatherings where drinks are served with no other food.
3.An appetizer, as a relish or more elaborate preparation, served before or as the first course of a meal.
So you get the drift. Something small and tasty. OK. Here in JW Marriott the take a different approach, a generous one. Firstly a hugely enthusiastic lady was exhorting me at 5.20 pm to prepare to eat. Not usual in New Malden. The selection was, and I was informed the expectation of the norm was to have everything. Here goes- sliders ( these are mini-burgers maybe 2 is a normal burger, a USA thing but creeping into UK), mini beef wellingtons, spicy humous, various crackers and chips, salads, cheeses, bread and a few litres of dips and sauces. So it is fair to say this concoction does not represent a ” small bit of appetising food”. For me this is good, no need to have an expensive dinner. For others, maybe most here, this really is a prelude to the feast called dinner. So I really do not think that folks here ever stop eating. I think maybe I need to come and live here but would be regarded as “odd” for not consuming 5000 calories a day. So another nice Day. I certainly have one.
A small USA breakfast
Sliders and Beef Wellingtons
There are many opinions about MK Dons and few of them favourable. Visiting their stadium today for the first time was a fairly fascinating experience.
All in all, one of the best grounds I have ever been to.
A truly amazing hotel situated on the outskirts of Helsinki essentially by the edge of the sea and in a forest. The hotel has three buildings that are connected by tunnels. The rooms are warm, the people friendly, the hotel quite different. Well worth a visit. These photos were taken outside the hotel and in the foyer. The photos are all taken with the I Phone so not a great standard of course.
After a mere 24 hours in Finland I can only say that this is quite a magical place. The people are kind, intelligent and interesting, also interested in other people. The food is great. The hotels are interesting. The temperature is cold, minus 8 this morning. What however struck me the most is that for children to learn spelling is not so easy. I had to sit through 2 hours of lectures in Finnish, which I did with good grace ( and my blackberry). One noticed that they used a lot of long words, and I counted 21 letters in one word. At dinner I was informed that the words could get and did get longer. Here is an example:
levyseppahitsaasaopiskelna = 26 letters
Scotland is really not an average place. Expectations of lochs and bagpipes are millions of miles away when one lands at Edinburgh airport. The surrounding areas are industrial if one is being polite. Driving along one finds places like “Ratho” ( is that Rat Ho, or Rath hoe?), that bring one to the worst roundabout in the world. Said roundabout has more traffic lights than the whole of london and all are set perfectly so that only one car can get through. Gridlock is not a possibility but a guaranteed state of affairs.
The motorways are tedious and even though fields are around they are invariably decorated with smoke producing buildings, towers and who knows what else. In short this is not the idyllic part of Scotland as one drives to Dunblane.
In Dunblane what used to be the Dunblane Hydro is now the Doubletree by Hilton………..which is the better? Double is actually not a bad description as they see fit to advertise : “Tea for two for only 31.50£”. Which is actually also the price of breakfast for two…………so one might then see why I chose not to donate money to this institution that wanted 176£ for a room for the night.
Lastly, it is good to see that the Tramway in Edinburgh is getting nearer completion and is being built at the airport. That will be joyful!
Dunblane Hydro or Doubletree by Hilton?
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 