Went by train to visit the new Birmingham City Library back in November - had to post before the end of 2013 The staff were all very friendly and helpful if slightly overwhelmed by numbers of curious visitors.
Taking in a new workplace which is also such a repository of and for people - and also a landmark can be a challenge!
We were very impressed. Well done Birmingham!

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Christmas 'Postcard' Game 2013
Part One - Postcards
Here is a little family quiz to help let the food settle and add to the seasonal festivities! It has become quite a tradition and latterly we've gone away from the cutting and sticking and plumped for photoshop! Last year's quizzes were based around pictures taken from tourism brochures I've accumulated over the years.
This year however I have decided to go back to postcards again but you may find them a little hard to identify at first.
Nonetheless there is a kind of pattern to them and all the places have something in common if you know our family quirks fairly well.
Happy quizzing!

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Number one -

Q1a - Where is this? (Town 3 points, region 2 points, country 1 point)
Q1b How many statues are there (in the town) of the hero after whom the town is named?

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Number Two -

Q2a - Where is this? (Resort 3 points, County or region 2 points, country 1 point)
Q2b - Who plays the doctor in the small fictional fishing port just up the coast?

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Number Three -

Q3a - Where does this recipe come from? (Town 3 points, county or region 2 points, country 1 point)
Q3b - What food do we call 'welsch aux rattes' in the UK?

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Number Four -

Q4a - Where is this a postcard of? (Region - 2 points, country 1 point)
Q4b - What type of beverage comes from this fluvial valley?

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Number Five -

Q5a - Where is this seaside resort? (Town 3 points, County or region 2 point, Country 1 point)
Q5b What is the name of the famous caves located in the town?

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Number Six -

Q6a - Where is this? (County - 3 points, 1 extra point for any places pictured)
Q6b Can you name the famous cliffs in the County accessed by a cable car?

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Number Seven -

Q7a - Can you name this country house run by English Heritage? (House name 3 points, nearby town 2 points, County 1 point)
Q7b - Can you name the TV company who aquired the house and gardens in 2002?

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Number Eight -

Q8a - Where is this? (Town 3 points, County 2 points, Country 1 point)
Q8b - What was the name originally given to it by the Vikings?

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Number Nine -

Q9a - Where is this?(Town 3 points, County or region 2 point, Country 1 point)
Q9b - What was the name of the war that its king fought from here? It was never captured in any time during over a hundred years of fighting!

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Number Ten -

Q10a Where is this fishing port? (Town 3 points, County 2 points, Country 1 point)
Q10b Anne and Glyn once listened to a jazz band playing in the street here. What is the name of the Andean influenced Breton folk band who used to pop up everywhere in the late 1990s?

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Number Eleven -

Q11a - Where is this? (Town 3 points, district or county 2 points, countrey 1 point)

Q11b - What is the main component of the famous eponymous tart?

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Number Twelve -

Q12a - Where is this 16th century former residence of the Adairs of Kinhilt?(Castle / Town 3 points, County or region 2 point, Country 1 point)

Q12b - Where do ferries cross to from a nearby port, site of the sister castle of St John?

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Number Thirteen -

Q13a - Where is this place where this tower is situated, along with two others?(Town 3 points, County or region 2 point, Country 1 point)

Q13b - What were the people called who were besieged here as part of the 'wars of religion'?

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Number Fourteen -

Q14a - Where is this world famous botanical attraction?

Q14b - What was this site historically used for before it became the attraction it is today?

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Number Fifteen -

Q15a - Where is this?(Heritage site 3 points, County or region 2 point, Country 1 point)

Q15b - What river is crossed here by a bridge and some stepping stones?

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Number Sixteen-

Q16a - What is this place?(Town 3 points, County or region 2 point, Country 1 point)

Q16b - Why is the church spire twisted in the manner shown?

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Number Seventeen -

Q17a - What is the name of this place?(Town 3 points, County or region 2 point, Country 1 point)
Q17b - What two cities does the featured waterway link up?

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Number Eighteen -

Q18a - Where is this?

Q18b Who was the famous nineteenth century female novelist, adaptations of whose works are often filmed here?

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Number Nineteen -

Q19a - What is this place famous for its gardens and thatched cottages (Village 3points, County 2 points, Country 1 point)

Q19b What floral example of an early time keeping device used to be a photo point here?

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Number Twenty -

Q20a Where is this?(Town 3 points, County or region 2 point, Country 1 point)
Q20b - Which King of England unsuccessfully besieged the town in 1544?

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Finished? Answers to me! You can send me a comment with your answers or email them!

♫ "How Deep The Fathers Love For Us" - Stuart Townend ♫ (+playlist)

Time difference

France is beautiful, Belgium too, and I'm sure Portugal and Spain are too though I've not got there yet.

I think I maybe still on French time even now, waking up an hour early and feeling done in by eleven

- that's the physical side of it. Feeling warm outside even though there's an autumnal wind blowing and a 'warm front' brings cool showers.

Possibly
it's just
psycho-
logical,
but
two
weeks
away
can't be
long enough for such a drastic effect to take hold,
can it?

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But that's not really the point here. Being back home, having returned to the UK several nights ago, the startlingly comforting thing I've noticed is the continuous nature of British time. Dawn and waking are smoothly followed by breakfast, then morning, work, lunch, afternoon activities, evening mealtime, leisure, evening, and night, and it's gratifyingly continuous. Gone is that 'what shall we do now' sensation we've felt between the hours of twelve thirty and two, or between four thirty and seven - when the morning's or afternoon's pursuits have already wound up but there are two hours plus before anywhere is open. This feeling is more intense in the afternoon/early evening; just what to do when everything has finished but nowhere is open to eat?

Too tired for anything else, and having exceeded the car park limit, we tended to drive off to disappointingly mundane places (there's no beach or prom at Gujan Mestras, for instance) - just to drive back,

rather than sit in the car

... and look at the view.

... It conveniently filled the time ...

until dinner,
which
was
lovely,
by the way.

(Even though I'm a bit 'iffy' with seafood!)

Chris Tomlin - Lord I Need You

Set a Fire - Beth Croft - Lyrics - Momentum

Our God / Water you turned into wine with lyrics

Amy Grant - How Majestic Is Your Name