Mulie in Birmingham

 Hello again,

It's been a while, hasn't it! Sorry, it's taken so long to get to this. I've been taking time for myself and trying to navigate through some mental health-related stuff - more on that in a minute! What I wanted to do was give you an old-style Mulie travel update on our trip to Birmingham. What did we get up to? How many times did we get lost? And of course, most topically, did we have enough petrol for the journey?! (we did thankfully, the panic buying seems to be waning off!) 

But first, a quick life update. Some of you reading this who also follow my personal account will know that I've recently changed jobs! From Monday, I will be working as a content executive for Helen and Douglas House. Helen and Douglas House is a children's hospice and charity based in Oxfordshire. They look after children and their families at a scary and daunting time, helping them face the present and future together in a happy and positive environment. I was attracted to the job initially because I wanted to have a real sense of purpose in my day-to-day working life. And, what better way to have that than working for a charity. It sounds self-indulgent I guess, but furlough, lockdown, and my mental health led me to want to do something purposeful. I'll be working with the marketing team, helping create inspiring content for their website and social media channels. I start on Monday after a very welcome 2-week break. I can't wait to get stuck in, meet the team, and start learning. 

I've been looking for something new for a while. While it'd be wrong to say that my previous role was the main contributor to my anxiety, there were times when it definitely didn't help either. As well as my personal career desires shifting in lockdown, my personal life also changed. I moved in with Matthew in January 2020 (just in time!), and I found that my commute was much longer than it used to be. The travel time and higher living costs, thrown in with the want to explore new avenues, led me to start my job search. I began at Travelodge as a young, budding graduate and have left with more confidence, new skills, and some new friends. I'll always be grateful for the stepping stone that Travelodge gave me in my career.

As for how things are generally for me right now, I have good days and bad. I've noticed recently that I have some issues with going for walks, dealing with heights, and managing daunting and unknown situations. I'm also now in a 4-week course of CBT which I'm hoping will help a little. But I'm worried it won't. I've tried every technique; tapping, 'telling myself it's ok', 'going and doing it and thinking about it later', but still, my brain hijacks me. While it's exhausting, I have had some bursts of reassuring, positive moments too. For example, I drove mum to Whipsnade Zoo and back without any issues....well, the sat-nav copped out, but other than that, it went well. Embarrassingly though, I cried when I got out of the car. I think it was all that pent-up anxiety and nervousness. Don't worry, I'll do a separate blog all about our day trip to the zoo! To summarise, my anxiety is still very much there, but so is my journey to managing it long term. I'll get there.

Now onto Birmingham! 

Saturday:

We set off around 10am as Matthew wanted to avoid the traffic and get there with some time to have a mooch about. This didn't go quite to plan. One thing you should know about Mulie ventures of any sort is this: we almost always get lost, and we almost always encounter some bad luck. Little did we know, we were going to encounter some bad luck on our journey. Part-way through our journey on the M40, we started seeing signs for an entire closure of junctions 10 and 11. Any guesses as to where we were headed? If you guessed right towards the closed junctions, you'd be right. 10 points for Gryffindor! What we were now facing was an ever-increasing queue of traffic shoehorning themselves towards the diversion. In essence, we ended up joining back on from Banbury. Thanks to my exemplary Googling skills, I found out that it was a crash that caused the closure, and that if we'd have left an hour earlier, we could've avoided this situation entirely. Funny how these things go. They must've known we were coming!

Ah, another thing that characterises a Mulie trip is the compelling force of one or more of these 3 establishments: IKEA, Costco, and Toby Carvery. We worked out (thanks to the enormous amounts of traffic) that there was both a Toby Carvery and a Costco en-route. So naturally, we changed our plans to make room for an indulgent unlimited roast dinner and a trip to the exclusive bulk-buying emporium that is Costco. If you've ever been, you'll know what I mean. The cakes are the size of Wembley Stadium, the meat is sold in portions that could kit out several Tudor-style banquets, and the brownies are sold in huge irresistible 1.2kg tubs.

You could say our day was very British. Moaning about being stuck in traffic, getting lost in a mountain of roasted meat, veg, and gravy, and getting excited about being able to bulk-buy things we probably didn't need. So, to keep this up, we decided to round off the evening by seeing the new Bond film: No Time to Die. I doubt I could write a stonking review that would do it justice, so all I'll say is this: GO AND SEE IT......NOW. Well, read this first, then go and see it. You won't regret it. There are all the hijinks you're used to from a Bond film: plenty of action, gadgets, buckets of wit and suave, and a great wrap-up to the Daniel Craig era - an era that I've found hugely entertaining. I'll miss his version of the character, but I look forward to finding out where the franchise goes next, and more importantly, who the next Bond is. 

Sunday:

Most of Sunday was spent milling around the city centre area, shopping and exploring. The weather wasn't really on our side, so we were ducking in and out of the showers. What I like most about Birmingham is the architecture. I'm not an architectural whiz, but the St Martin church near the Bullring has always stood out for me. There's something to be said about hearing the cascading sound of church bells - they make me feel happy. Not sure why - I'm not a religious person at all - maybe it's just the sound. After I went all in at Marks and Spencer (I bought 5 - yes 5 - pairs of boots to see me through the winter...and 10 subsequent winters!) we walked back to the car with our shopping haul, then took shelter at the hotel from the latest rain shower. 

From here, we planned our evening. A nice walk down the canal to the Gas Street Basin and Brindley Place to admire the views, then off to Ming Moon - an all-you-can-eat emporium for Chinese cuisine.  As you can imagine, our walk along the canal turned quite soggy - something that did cause some mobility problems for Matthew. While I want to keep this piece light and rant-free, it would be nice for councils to put practicality and accessibility before aesthetics. While slick granite paving may look great for your spanking new city centre development, it's incredibly dangerous for those who rely on a stable surface to get around.

After filling up on Chinese food, we walked our bloated selves back to the hotel.

Monday:

The next morning we headed over to Dudley for the Black Country Living Museum. This open-air museum explores the culture and character of the Black Country through 300 years of history. Whether it's an iron foundry, a coal pit, an old tram, a brick-clad '30's street, or a back-to-back house from the '20s, it was a place to be immersed in everything yesteryear. Unfortunately, not every bit was open, and there were building works, but what we did see was good. We even got a stern lesson in 19th Century schooling from Mr. Griffiths - one of the many people dressed up embodying real-life characters from the era. We recited our 12 times tables (badly on my part!) and even got some lashings from the cane (not really, obviously!). Even though it was pretend, it really did put me back to being in the classroom again! We also learned the origins of some common phrases, such as "wiping the slate clean". It really was a great day, even if it rained all afternoon. Our tickets are valid for the next 12 months, so we'll be back next year, no doubt.

That evening, we went for dinner at Rajdoot, a local Indian restaurant just around the corner from our hotel. I think we caught them off guard coming in so early, and we were the only ones there for most of our meal, but the food and the service were good. We left for the hotel bloated (again!)

Tuesday:

Just before we left Birmingham, we visited the iconic Library of Birmingham. Mum recommended the viewing platforms to us and encouraged us to see the views before we left. There are 2 viewing platforms at different levels - level 7 and level 9. The decor got more elaborate the further up we went, and so did my anxiety. While it seemed inviting to look over the edge of the escalators at the world of books below, my mind had other ideas! By the time we opened the doors to the outdoor rooftop terrace at level 7, the height anxiety had hit its peak. I wanted to go and enjoy the views (they really were impressive!), but my feet wouldn't move. I went back and admired it all from indoors. The experience from level 9, however, made me a lot calmer. It wasn't open to the high winds, and there were chairs to sit and watch the skyline. 

From the library, we headed back to the car and home again. There were no traffic disruptions, but I will say one thing. Given the news of shortages across various industries, including haulage, fuel, and construction, the journey back along the motorways seemed like a weird British safari of (supposedly) rare sights. We passed several petrol stations, numerous active building sites, and streams of HGV's taking up the 'slow' lane delivering god-knows-what. 

So, that was Birmingham. I'm sat here now with a new chapter awaiting me on Monday. While I am a little apprehensive of the commute and whether I'll get on with everyone, I'm excited to see what's around the corner. 

Until next time...