Time to travel up to Birmingham. Meant an early start, with a taxi down to the Coach Station (if that is what you can call the unsuitable set up in Sophia Gardens). The reason is that at present there is no central Bus and Coach Station - a new one adjacent to Cardiff Central Railway Station is scheduled to open in 2023. The choice of coach was due to there being another rail strike (this time by drivers). The only benefit of travelling by coach is not having to lug your bags on and off when changing trains. Plus most people are quiet on a coach - there is not the incessant babble that pervades train coaches (unless one is in the Quiet coach). In fact today most people fell asleep. With only one stop in Newport, it took 2 and half hours to reach Birmingham Coach Station (a proper one with waiting area, ticket office, facilities and some shops). The Coach Station in Brum is a short walk from New Street Railway station - but today there are no West Midlands T...
So have reached the day of my last shift. Last night was a busy night, although we did manage to complete the shift by 2230hrs (as opposed to the 0030hrs indicated on our rota). As we near the end of the week, the competitions are focused on Gold and Bronze matches. With medal events, the number of spectators increases, and whenever there is an England player (or more so when a Gold is won), the spectator roar increases significantly. Yesterday was ParaTable Tennis - with two different categories; 3-5 which is for those who have standing problems and need to be wheelchair seated and 6-10 for those who can compete standing (but may have arm/leg problems). As has been seen with the other para events, the crowd enthusiastically support players, and again it was evident in TTE - when the Mens Singles 3-5 Final was won by England, the noise was deafening. The seating is around 2500 and it was good to see an almost full house. With the England anthem being ‘Jerusalem’,...
Today it was the Opening Ceremony of the 22nd Commonwealth Games - 10 years and a day after the London 2012 Olympics. Had the pleasure of being at the London Olympic Stadium to see the Opening Ceremony, and then two years later was at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony. So what would Brum have to show off? Well it was executively produced by the Brummie screenwriter and creator of 'Peaky Blinders' Steven Knight - so that perhaps gave a clue To get to the ceremony, it was a drive to Birmingham, parking in the extremely cheap Park and Ride (£2) which included a free bus transfer across Brum to the newly redeveloped Alexander Stadium, situated in the suburb of Perry Barr. Arriving early meant that I was one of the first in queue to get through security (standard airport type) - with it being staffed by members of the Armed Forces (a nod to the security arrangements at London 2012) The Alexander Stadium, as redeveloped, has seating for 18,000, but additio...
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