I enjoyed a rare day out on
Wednesday, and it was rarer still, because it was work-related. I've been employed in my current part time position for around four and a half years, and apart from a four day spell helping to man the company trade stand in
Cologne, at what was the world's largest dental show, I've been largely office-based.
That changed the other day, when I took time out from my busy schedule, for a visit to a
Health & Safety Event, at
Birmingham's NEC. I'd received previous invites, of course, but when you are only on site for three days out of five, you have to manage your time very carefully, in order to squeeze everything in. I travelled up to
Brum by train, taking advantage of an off-peak return, on
Avanti West Coast, which offered a fair degree of flexibility. I know the company was paying, but it all comes off the bottom line, so there's no point in wasting money, just to get somewhere at the crack of dawn! I might do that, if I was going off on holiday, but I wouldn't do so for work, and certainly not for a trade show.
A few observations before launching in to the main topic, and the first one was I enjoyed a fast and comfortable return train journey to
Birmingham, along part of a route that I first travelled on back in my student days, when I was studying at
Salford University. Avanti may have had teething issues when they first took over the
West Coast franchise from
Virgin, but from what I experienced the company has certainly now got its act together. The other observation is one I am not sure that I want to share with you, chiefly because it is an unwelcome reminder of growing old.
The
South Eastern service I took from
Tonbridge was crowded, and whilst I could have got a seat, I wanted to speak to a work colleague first, concerning the successful resolution of a problem that had cropped up the day before. By the time our conversation finished, the train had called at
Sevenoaks and taken on a further load of passengers. As I walked down the corridor, looking for an empty seat, a young lady obviously took pity on me, and offered me her seat. Thanking her for her kindness and consideration, I politely declined, not sure to be flattered or ashamed. Surely I didn't look that much in need of a seat? Later on, the same thing happened on the
Northern Line tube, between
London Bridge and
Euston. Talk about chivalry in reverse!
These events aside, the train dropped me at the
NEC just after
11.30. I then made my way towards the exhibition halls, pausing to reflect that whilst the
NEC does exactly what it says on the tin, it is just that - a series of interconnected concrete and metal sheds. What it isn't is somewhere to host a beer festival, and not just any old beer festival, but the UK's premier, national, beer-related event. I understand that
CAMRA had to do something last year, when
Olympia became unavailable, but a little thinking outside the box would have gone a long way. If you've ever been to
Munich's world famous
Oktoberfest, then you'll appreciate the effort that goes into staging the event, with the so-called
"tents", in reality, large wooden temporary structures, that reappear every year.
These rustic-looking buildings, designed to look like hybrids of a tent and a beer hall, are capable of accommodating large number of revellers, and supplying them with large quantities of beer, as well as food, in a matter that is efficient, cost-effective as well as atmospheric. Contrast the structures at
Oktoberfest with the soulless
NEC, or even
Olympia and its predecessor,
Earls Court, and you quickly realise that in over
40 years of running beer festivals,
CAMRA has failed to learn there is more to such events than a massive list of beers that are often indistinguishable from one another.
Rant over, because whilst totally wrong for a beer festival, and a flagship national one at that, the
NEC delivered fully when it came to
"The Health & Safety Event". There, under one roof, were stands exhibiting safety equipment, protective clothing (lots of boots and hi-vis jackets), systems, and virtually everything connected with keeping workers safe, whilst at work, whether that is indoors or outside. My main areas of interest were, systems and equipment to protect lone workers (not that we do much where people have to work alone, or out of hours). I also looked at provisions for first aid in the workplace, plus software for generating and managing risk assessments and method statements. I shan't bore you with any more details, but from my one point of view, as well as that of my employer, it was well worth my attending an event that certainly delivered on all fronts.
Being a warm day, it was nice to escape outside into the
Piazza that is bounded by several of the inter-linked halls. It was where I took my genuine
Cornish Pasty, courtesy of the
Cornish Bakery chain. Their stand also delivered a fine cup of coffee as well, so a decent, and moderately-sized lunch, unlike last week's gargantuan offering at the
Elephant's Head. After that, it was a short walk back to the station, where I purchased a return ticket to
Birmingham New Street. The journey into central
Brum was short too, lasting all of 10 minutes, but as the train approached
New Street, I was somewhat surprised at the lack of progress in linking and converting, some of the mega-structures, associated with
HS2, into a viable railway.
So now for the other main event, namely a few of
Birmingham's finest hostelries. I'd done a spot of research, but as things turned out, it wasn't quite sufficient. I was aiming for a pub overlooking one of
Birmingham's many canals, at a location known as
Gas Street Basin. My route from
New Street took me past the now sadly closed,
Post Office Vaults, a pub which, as its name suggests is partly underground. It was the first pub, and initial meeting point, on the
Proper Day Out in
Birmingham, a stagger around some of
Brum's finest alehouses. Looking back the event took place three years ago, a fact that both surprised and shocked me, but now, according to the notice on the door, the
POV is no more, due to insolvency.
Onwards and upwards, I skirted the front of the imposing,
Victorian Town Hall, now almost free of the scaffolding and netting that spoiled its appearance, back in
April 2023. There was also a significant improvement in the weather, with sunny skies and warm temps, contrasting with the wind and rain of three years ago.
What I hadn't banked on was the maze of roadworks and ensuing street closures, which made my way to the
Waterside Tap something of nightmare. I'm not a fan of using my phone, for navigation purposes, preferring instead a good, old fashioned, paper map, but after a number of false starts, I felt I was getting somewhere, only to see, also online, that the pub wouldn't be open until
5pm! Checking at home, earlier today, that information appeared not to be true, which left me wondering did I miss out on this attractive, canal-side alehouse, owned and run by
Joule's Brewery.Now I know that
Stafford Paul isn't a massive fan of
Joule's pubs - something to do with the amount of repro advertising, and artefacts adorning the walls, and other flat surfaces of the company's, but I was really looking forward to this one, and a pint or two of
Joule's beers into the bargain. As for actually trying to find the pub, I decided to call it quits, especially as the website advising the late opening of this pub, was
CAMRA's own. Reluctantly I retraced my steps, and headed back in the direction of the town hall, where I knew I'd find at least one, and probably more of the pubs on my provisional list. We're going to have to leave these pubs until next time, as I've waffled on, for rather longer than I originally intended, so, until then, then!
