Category: Travel

Visiting the in-laws in Oxton on the Wirral (near Birkenhead), I found a good new coffee shop in Oxton village. Moose Coffee (perhaps called that because the premises used to be a hairdresser) is a New York-y place with pretty good coffee and a range of american style breakfasts. My latte was on the milky side, but the buzz and ambience even on a Midwinter Thursday, were great.

To Reading for a meeting. Stayed at the Royal County Hotel, an old-fashioned place in a central location. Friendly staff and nice rooms, but on lift.

Dinner on Sunday night at Santa Fe by the Thames. Chainy but nice American-Mexican place. Tonight ate at the fantastic Sweeney & Todd’s pie shop on Castle Street and ate heartily for £6. Then to the Three Bs cafe bar in the old town hall, which showed historic public sector randomness by not serving coffees after 4pm.

To Birmingham for a conference yesterday and a meeting this morning. Stayed in the Holiday Inn on Hill Street, which really needs a refurb internally (and is getting it), but is comfortable enough. Free wi-fi broadband as well, which is more than can be said for some hotels.

Had dinner at Zinc, on the canal near Five Ways, which was a pleasant experience – unlike the 80s retro bar across the road. A stylishly-designed Pitcher and Piano nearby was more relaxing, if a bit corporate.

This morning, out to a meeting in Star City, a casino-bowling-cinema development at Nechells in Aston. Took the bus out there like the good boy I am, but it was a fairly depressing ride. Row after row of sad looking 60s/70s houses – still maintained by their owners, but looking very faded overall. The slaughter of central Birmingham by the ring road is really tragic.

There were a few architectural high spots – a nice row of possibly mid-Victorian terraced houses on Nechells Park Road, and a wonderful public baths, which might be a bit later: full of Victorian civic pride with a vast coat of arms on the front. A bit of research shows that it closed in 1995, and is now the home of the local regeneration project. They couldn’t pick a better building: the city’s motto is proudly emblazoned over the door: FORWARD.

Route finding maps of Amsterdam, by car, bike or foot, at Routecraft.

Unhealthy delights in Bath, with an excellent cream tea at the Courtyard, off Church Street, and then 100g of mint humbugs from the excellent sweet shop next door.

On the way to Amsterdam, and a night in the Hotel Metropole in Brussels. By coincidence, it’s where my grandfather-in-law stayed with his new wife on their honeymoon in 1946. It’s still a five star place, though currently in the middle of renovation. Lots of excellent art nouveau stained glass and some well-preserved history among the modern comforts.

Presumably the lack of business travellers in August was the reason for the ludicrously cheap rate (about €60 for a double room).

The hotel’s address in the usual schizoid Brussels manner is “Place de Brouckère 13 Debrouckereplein”

San Francisco tried it for a few days. Metafilter reports.

The BBC reports that three major bypasses, including one in Polegate, have failed to reduce traffic by the amount planned for. All three have now reached the traffic levels predicted for 2010.

Meanwhile, in a distant country with a sensible transport policy, the reopening of the five-station Larkhall railway line in Scotland has exceeded its own estimates, carrying 38% more passengers than predicted in the first six months.

Apparently the demand for the London-Penzance sleeper train (recently threatened with closure) has grown significantly. Yay!