Lockdown day #68

Today would have been Birmingham Pride ... but for obvious reasons it wasn't.  I only went once (in 2014) - the dance group I am in, the Gay Gordons, were booked to give a demonstration on both the Saturday and the Sunday.  We are provided with accommodation in a posh hotel in Birmingham - only they forgot to tell us they were only reserving the accommodation, and we had to pay for it.  This was not what they told us!

I arrived, checked in, and was presented with a bill I could not afford.  I got very emotional, knowing this was beyond my circumstances, and knowing that I could not get another hotel in the city for much less.  After some trying I got through to our dance group leader, and he had a word with the organisers of Pride, who duly paid for the room.  I was so upset I was on the verge of going to New Street station and getting the first train home.

It worked out ok in the end, but I don't think I am planning on going to Birmingham Pride this year or any other year in future. 

Birmingham Pride 2014

Instead I read an e-book on the trolleybuses of Manchester and Ashton-under-Lyne and watched a video of buses in South Staffordshire.

 

I ended the day re-watching the TV series "A Very British Coup", which remains as pertinent as it was when it first aired.

Christmas 2017 part 1 - November 2017

My Christmas celebrations for 2017 started early.

On 11 November I went to the Manchester Craft & Design Centre for their Christmas launch event "Christmas Starts Here".  The Centre was busy and there was some seasonal music, but it didn't really feel like Christmas ... perhaps it was too early.

My choir, the Sunday Boys, visited Birmingham the week later for a concert in the foyer of the Birmingham Rep Theatre.  I got a glimpse of the Christmas lights which was really nice.

I next went to an organ recital at St Ann's Church on November 21 - and a number of the pieces were dealing with Advent.  Pieces included “Choral Preludes for Advent” (JS Bach), “Choral Prelude on Veni Emanuel” (Flor Peeters) and “Fantasia on Veni Emanuel” (Heathcote Statham)

It was starting to begin to look like Christmas.  On the following Friday I attended the Anthems for Advent at Cross Street Chapel.  I have done this now for a few years.

Next was a visit to the Garrick Playhouse Theatre for Alan Ayckbourn's "Seasons Greetings" which was very funny.

Christmas felt like it was getting closer.  There was a Christmas bake sale at work in aid of the Encephalitis Society, and I decided I would try and watch a Christmas movie on YouTube each day in the run up to Christmas.  The film I watched on St Andrew's Day was "A Princess for Christmas" - which of course has a happy ending.

The road to 2013 part 4

In November 1965 we moved again into inner-city Birmingham, my parents taking command of the Salvation Army corps in Small Heath.  We lived in Arthur Street in Birmingham, but again the house has been demolished.  The church is now used for commercial premises. 

 

In the summer of 1966 we holidayed in Weston-Super-Mare.