A rare return to Coventry

Morning of finishing off, tidying, and packing before making my way down to St David's to catch the train to the Midlands. The journey was pretty smooth although the carriage was pretty packed. The person next to me ate an extremely aromatic packet of Quavers for lunch and, perhaps in response, the woman in row in front insisted on spritzing herself with huge quantities of perfume on a regular basis.

Despite knowing that New Street was in the process of being heavily reworked, I hadn't realised just how extensive the upgrade was until I got out to find myself in an almost completely unfamiliar environment: the bridge over the platforms had turned into a very temporarily looking corridor; the old shopping centre above the station had closed completely; and the way out had been replaced with a labyrinth that worked its way around the closed off central section before finally making its out on to Stephenson Street. Emerging into the rain, I spent an hour pottering around Brum picking up a couple of books in the process — The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature and Al Reynolds Blue Remembered Earth as a late birthday present for my mother.

I got back to Coventry in good time, slogged home thorough the rain, and waited for my parents to get back from London. When my sister got off work and arrived with my nephew in tow, we had a nice family dinner — indian takeaway, naturally! — and went to bed early.