Stolzes Herz

just two flower pics

Just some quick snaps of some more or less funny stuff I’ve seen on my trip to B’ham:

Hazards

1.Choking Hazard- Actually bought these, they don’t fit me, ironically they’re too small, you might think they’d make the boxers that advertise male hugeness large but no. Actually it was the only size left (they were dirt cheap) which makes me think that either all the large ones had been bought by people who had the goods or that they make’em small on purpose.

Jaws is back

2. The loan shark. I find this actually offensive to sharks, besides, banks nowadays are just that, loan sharks, so I really fail to see what’s the warning about. Should read “No need to search for a loan shark to get screwed / We can help you get screwed just as well”.

Teh Minions

3. Jesus army. Such an unfortunate term combination when you think that Jesus had been crucified by roman soldiers. I think Jesus minions would be even better, also the slogan “People that love Jesus” is just wrong , it really doesn’t say anything about their intentions , if I recall right Jesus said to love thy neighbours and enemies. Saying you love Jesus doesn’t give me the confidence that you’re any better than say someone who loves pasta, Chuck Norris or Camus and it surely doesn’t portray any deep moral core either. Just stupid.

Here, here, the finest silk in Birmingham

4. On a lighter note: Fancy Silk. I thought silk was fancy by definition I mean I haven’t seen any construction workers wearing silk… Made me wonder  were the regular (or less fancy) silk store might be.

Trainspotting never gets old, no, wait, it does...

5. Another dumb ad. I mean really would you go to an insurance that insures people like Iggy Pop?? They surely count on you being to simple, drunk or stoned to understand their contract. These seem to be the kind of people with whom you should really read the fine print, you may never know where they squeezed a  “If you’re not Iggy Pop you don’t get jack” phrase in the contract. I’d go to somebody else for car insurance on that ad alone, Iggy Pop even.

Some childish humour as well

6. Humps. You either get this or you don’t actually it’s not even that funny.

They probably sold all the good spots on the Moon and Mars already

7. The bulgarian property consultants. Guess what, they were out of business which frankly doesn’t amaze me. What did amaze me though was their relative closeness to the city center. Must have missed the news announcing Bulgaria as the new Portugal or Spain.

On the way to Amsterdam

Been to Birmingham for a week to do some work. First no jet lag which is always welcome J . Went there to use a machine they (Bham University) had and we (Emac) didn’t and test some samples

Scheduling on the machine I was supposed to operate was lacking to say the least so I had to wait for other people, negotiate, talk to people in charge (professors) etc Talking to the professors got the PhD students off my back but the undergrads remained (undergrads working with guess what, other PhD students). Explaining that I came from France and was only there for a week to test my samples didn’t impress people too much as apparently I wasn’t convincing enough. It’s always hard to explain to someone why your time is more important than theirs. Maybe I should check my Dale Carnegie books see what I was doing wrong. Well for one putting my needs before theirs, though in this case I think my lack of authority in front of them had more to do with the outcome. It’s really hard to sugar coat “I need the machine now so could you work on it later, please”. Also impolite answers on their part like “I’ll only use it for a few hours then it’s all yours” didn’t help communication either. So in order to get anything done I had to work some strange hours (like 4pm to 10:30pm).

Anyhow all in all it was a good experience, I got what I came for (almost), people who weren’t in competition with me for the machine have been very helpful and hospitable and I thank them for their collaboration. They know who they are but I doubt it they read my blog or even know or care that I have one.

Birmingham University Landmarks

So, onto the free time, didn’t have much of that since my schedule was so chaotic and the few pictures I took aren’t that great. You can get around Birmingham with either train or bus or plain walking. Unfortunately the University hotel refused to lodge me for the whole period as they said that for the last night I would have been their only guest and with too high operating costs in such difficult economic times they couldn’t afford to keep me. So instead of searching a hotel for just one night I chose another hotel for the duration, some 35 minutes away from the university (on foot or bus/train combo, time remained the same). Hotels name was the Edgbaston Palace on Hagley rd, it’s proper, room was double even though I asked for single, kind of cold in the room but as soon as you get under the blanket everything is nice and cozy. And since I only slept there room wasn’t really an issue. Small TV in the room, large one at the bar, wireless internet only near the bar not in the room, this didn’t put me off frankly, I might have a 17”, 8 pounds laptop but it also packs an 8 cell battery pack so for some evening browsing it was alright. However if I ever come back to Birmingham I hope they would have fixed this. Breakfast was big: cereals, yoghurt, croissants, full English breakfast (also had a vegetarian option), good coffee. Eating at 8 am kept me satisfied until 4-5 pm. This was quite a change from my usual “eat nothing in the morning & lunch at 11.30-12pm” but I survived.

I truly hate Marmite

As mentioned didn’t get to see much of Birmingham did some shopping in the malls around the central train stations and that’s about it, also I was close to the Botanical gardens but since I like walking alone in botanical gardens just as much as dining alone in restaurants I thought I’d pass on that. Also my main evening food supply was sandwiches. Subway is nice although I feel it smells of hobos inside.

Daily Train

I’m tired now more impressions and pix to follow.