THANK HEAVENS FOR FRIENDLY BIRMINGHAM

A bit of a gamble given the iffy weather outlook but it paid off and after breakfast we set off down the m6, goodness knows what would have happened if we were doing the journey in reverse, it was a jam from Stafford to Knutsford. Anyway the road works around Birmingham centre threw us a bit but we finally found our usual spot by the cathedral and there is a very good coffee shop nearby who bring your coffee to the table and what good coffee it is, Costa, Startrek etc take note.  The weather was as near perfect as you may expect this time of year, crisp, dry, not too much breeze and light cloud. This was as good as it gets in January and made filming easy pickings and the bus drivers were 100% friendly as in days of old, perhaps they have pruned out the bad ones. The new red livery is nearly all pervading now very few in the previous colours, a few electric buses with 68 regs seen and filmed. I saw police with machine guns our near the Bull Ring station area, it always makes me nervous and angry rather than reassured but I did get a wave back from patrols passing me when filming which I think is lovely, as so few constables are on foot it is about as much communication as you could make but gives me a feeling that we are all in it together.

Talking of which of course brings up that contentious subject of the EU, we are federalists and I see little barrier left to us aligning with the Euro is the intelligent route of staying in is taken. I am constantly horrified by the little englander statements  of life in cloud cuckoo land, if they really imagine we can live in isolation they are in need of medical attention. To whom would we align ourselves, the USA hmm perhaps not, Russia, really - cheap trolleybuses and trams perhaps then China, wow that stalwart of liberal traditions but it is safe to walk around at night and little hassle if you tow the line. I really do feel that the EU and the British executive failed to point out the benefits it has given us like generations growing in relative peace certainly in west europe and stability even when the greedy ones have wrecked the banking business. Freedom of travel and access, laws to protect workers and disabled, citizen rights, food standards, supporting local food descriptions, all manner of things to improve our world. We could argue against the bad aspects from within, we have several natural partners in many areas. The one thing the Tories will do is line the pockets of the rich even more . Don't expect even the fascist UKIP types to be lining folk up on boats 'to go home' any time soon. The appetite in the EU for restricting immigration has grown and can be developed sensibly and humanely.

Well there is nowhere as equality of race than Birmingham so we arrive thee as we did this morning with everyone equally friendly , well with a Brummie accent you need friends anywhere you can find them. ( only joking). Here are some photos from this morning.