Brum

Tags: photos, sculpture, Birmingham, art, food, PhD

Date: 14 January 2007 13:46:44

I finally got back yesterday from my few days away pretending to be intelligent. It's good to be back - it's all very nice staying in hotels and whatnot, but there's nothing like being surrounded with your own clobber and knowing that you're "home".

Anyway - I was in sunny Birmingham, and my meeting and conference/workshop-type-thing both went well. I also had a ridiculously large curry, met my friend and had cocktails and another ridiculously large meal (yummy South American - stuffed butternut squash, delicious), and am currently enthusiastic about academia - the fact is, the area I study IS really interesting, and if it wasn't for the fact that I'd have to teach I'd stay in academia gladly. I'm currently trying to think of ways I can combine doing the things I like doing (research, learning, health visiting, languages, arty stuff) and avoiding the things I don't (teaching). Having a few more hours in each day would be a great start.

Anyway, Brum. They've done a good job of tarting up the centre over the last few years, and I was surprised at how good the shopping was and how vibrant the city was. I especially liked the cathedral, which was very tranquil and had beautiful pre-Raphaelite (Edward Burne-Jones) stained glass windows, and Victoria Square which featured a lot of interesting sculptures and statues. Here are some of my pictures:

I'm not sure what this statue's official name is, but I understand everyone calls her "The Floozie in the Jacuzzi" which I rather like!

I knew straight away as soon as I saw this one that it was by one of my favourite sculptors, Anthony Gormley. It's called "Iron Man" (for rather obvious reasons), and I think there are a number of these sculptures throughout the UK. I included this shot as it shows the size of the sculpture in relation to the passers-by. And the picture below is just one I liked from another angle. I think it looks a bit Dr Who-ish.