Blogging Buddies

Anyone who uses any form of social networking whether that be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blogger or anything else that has cropped up in the past few years, can relate to me when I say you really do form connections through these sites.

I myself have met some brilliant people from social networking- first a foremost my partner in crime Richard (to read our not so romantic tale see my previous post) but also some good friends who I stay in contact with as more and more sites develop. For example I knew many of Richard's friends before I even had the pleasure of meeting them just from social networking alone. It also has the ability to reunite old friends together; take me and an old school friend who hadn't seen or heard from each other for about seven years until we found each other on Facebook.

This is also the case for Naomi, a fellow Blogger and a good friend of mine. I honestly don't quite know how she came onto my radar but I can only assume it was through another blogging site and we crossed each others paths at some point. Sharing a mutual interest in cooking and exploring we soon began chatting and commenting on each others posts. This soon spread to us becoming Facebook 'friends' and following one another on Twitter. 

I then suggested the good old fashioned 'pen pal' method of communication and fortunately she shared my enthusiasm. To me nothing will ever beat a well penned letter and I am sad to see that very few people (particularly the younger generation) do this any more. I myself am guilty of typing letters to family but do at the very least write a card alongside it. Naomi and I wrote back and forth to each other as often as we could although both of us became increasingly more busy with 'grown up' problems such as employment.

In one of the last letters I wrote to her I suggested that we meet up. Geographically we are quite some distance- her in the wonderful Wales and me in the boring Bedfordshire. However as I explored this concept further I found an agreeable half way point for us- Birmingham. The date was set and we met up for the day...

Having never properly set foot in Birmingham before other than to visit the NEC for Grand Designs Live with my sister, I really didn't quite know what to expect from the city. Based on the Visit Birmingham website it looked alive with architecture and culture not to mention being a shoppers delight. That being said I was told it was "an absolute shit hole" by clearly a very well educated individual. With these ideas in mind I was excited to visit to make my own mind up and pootled off in my trusty car Kenny. I left my car in a rather suspicious looking car park but my faith was restored when I was given someone else's day ticket (although I did wonder quite why they were leaving in such a hurry) and I set off to find Naomi. 

Thanks to the wonders of technology and texting we soon met up outside of the Bullring which really is an architectural wonder...

Birmingham certainly offered a refreshing mix of old and new which very much reminded me of Liverpool which is quite possibly one of my favourite cities, along with Edinburgh and of course London. Here you can find an elegant old church next to an elaborate new shopping centre and for some reason it just, well, works.

Naturally we were there to shop until we dropped and I feel as though we achieved that by the end of the day. We didn't necessarily buy a lot, I myself left with nothing more than a dress, an eyeliner and a rather boring eyeshadow, but we certainly saw all of the shops at least twice and our feet had certainly had their exercise for the next couple of weeks. 

A definite theme was apparent from each store- do it big, or go home. Each shop had huge glass windows, extravagant displays and if you didn't have at least three floors you were laughed at. Selfridges is one such example of this, with their jelly bean statues that stood proudly over their visitors...

All in all we had a wonderful day, we shopped plenty, we ate well and we chatted about just about anything and everything. We were both in agreement that it was as if we had been friends for years and this was just another day of meeting up, which I think is a truly wonderful thing.

Birmingham however did not quite offer us the cultural kick we were looking for, something we discovered after all the shopping and eating. We managed to finish up at the Bullring by about four o'clock and eager to see more of the city I suggested going beyond the shopping centre, expecting even more wonderful architecture and cultural delights. However straight outside of the Bullring you could see where the city had got it's "shit hole" label from. There was a rather tatty looking market offering very little other than mops and beyond that? Nothing. This to me was the saddest thing of all. I could understand the derelict buildings and graffiti infested walls close to where I parked, every city had them, even the majestic London proves that. This however was so much more than a shady looking street corner, this was Birmingham beyond shopping. It is a shame because I think it could give Liverpool a run for it's money and the Bullring does demonstrate what the city can achieve with thought, money and hard work.

With Birmingham City Centre very much explored by us, we went our separate ways but vowed to meet up again. The question is, where will it be next? 

To see more about Naomi check out her rather amazing blog.