We've driven up to Birmingham today 'cos Vicky has bought 2 tickets for a play at The Rep which, as you can see from the photo above, is handily situated right next to the newly built and now open Birmingham Public Library - the biggest in Europe, no less - which gives us a chance to have a shufty 'round and check out whether it lives up to the hype.
Of course, what with all the publicity an' all, the Library is rammed to the rafters with plebs just like us going up and down the escalators and taking photos just like this.
Is that a halo above Vic's head? Hmmmmm.
We're on the second floor balcony now and this is a shot of the inside of the outside 'cladding'.
It's a mindbender!
It's a mindbender!
It's like a roof garden but it's not on the roof. Lunacy!
Splendid panorama of Birmingham looking south across Centenary Square with, from left to right, the olde library, the Hall of Memory, that ice-scraper office block which was built years ago and has never been filled, The Registry Office, The Hyatt Hotel, the Convention Centre/Symphony Hall, and the Rep right next door.
Howard is both well-travelled and well-read (oh yes).
Birmingham is a wonderfully confused mish-mash of olde and new architecture. In the left foreground we have a corner of the classic Baskerville House while, on the right, is the appropriately sober Hall of Memory. Then again, in the middle, is the diabolical late '70's olde Public Library. A 'carbuncle' as Prince Charles would say.
Wonder what will happen to it now and, more worryingly, what will replace it?
Back inside now and ascending yet more escalators.
Look! There's some actual books in the far distance.
A view from the inside up here of the outside down there.
Surrounded by books as we travel back towards the ground floor. Unfortunately, these books can only be accessed by the staff. Must be very valuable. Not to mention olde. Very olde.
This central space with it's escalators and travelators dominates everything.
It's all very grand, but what about areas for quiet study?
Child and parent interaction area: no modern library is complete without one.
Leaving the library now via the link to the Rep.
We're going to The Rep to see the matinee performance of the fairly Bennettesque 'People' by Alan Bennett which features Livia from I Claudius, one of those dead 'ard blokes off Eastbenders, Thelma from The Likely Lads, and the very slightly disturbed and disturbing Mrs Tishell from Doc Martin. In fact Mrs Tishell walks right past us whilst we are in The Reps foyer whilst we are searching for a snack. She's in disguise but she doesn't fool us just 'cos she isn't wearing her ubiquitous neck brace. It was definitely her.
The play was alright. We enjoyed it. It was a darn-sight better than the meal we had in the Homemade Burger Factory-place we had afterwards anyway. Blige, that place has gone downhill. Shan't go there again.
Nevermind. Win some, lose some. Nearly six o'clock now and it's time to head home via the weekly shop at Morrisons in Droitwich.
Exciting life, eh?
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