Birmingham! Just a couple of hours down the road from Liverpool but with a completely different accent - more nasal and whiny. Lynne and John met me at the station. It's been 27 years since I've seen them and I think I only met John in passing. Lynne is no different to when I saw her last in 1986, a little greyer but still the bubbly person she always was.
They have a very nice house in the leafy suburb of Northfield and they were excited about showing me round. Birmingham is certainly a city on the move; there's a bright new hospital and building everywhere. Lynne wanted to show me the schools where she had taught and they certainly looked attractive. There was a group of boys and girls in their uniforms playing in the grounds and I think Lynne was itching to get out of the car to meet them.
Today, we went to Stratford upon Avon, one of England's premier attractions. The weather was beautiful, so we walked about looking at the canal boats and the Stratford Theatre. It's not hard to spend a few hours in such a beautiful place with so much to see. We came across a small bunch of tiny children in uniform, apparently from the Stratford Prep School. Lynne couldn't help herself and asked on of the teachers how old they were. 3 and 4, she was told, and these two are just 2. And they were already in uniform!
The evening meal was at a local carvery and, after all the walking around, I enjoyed it. The visit to Birmingham was too short and we didn't get enough time to chat. Oh, we'll, maybe next time.
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