frog princess

Uh. Am impossibly sleepy this afternoon. How can I do any work like this? I can't, is the answer. So here I am.

We spent the morning wandering about the new Bull Ring centre in Birmingham. Yes, that fateful day has arrived at last, and the old Bull Ring, or graveyard to a million wads of chewing gum, has been buried under several gazillion tonnes of granite, steel and glass. Not forgetting the aluminium discs and Baba Papa shape of the new Selfridges building, which is very lovely. The old Bull Ring was unspeakably run down and populated with pound shops, burger vans and the sort of clothes shops where everything is made of that cheap stretchy material. The new Bull Ring has a large central open area with large fountains and trees and a lovely yellow stone amphitheatre-type thing with benches, in the middle of which sits the church. Thinking about the contrast between old and new almost makes me start wellling up.

And the statue of Nelson, erected in 1809 and then hidden in the 1960's by some mad architect round the back of a chip shop has been cleaned and is now proudly displayed in the central walkway. Note of interest: Nelson looks very, very gay indeed in this sculpture.