A mere trifle, m'dear....

I went to Mum's for tea after work today.  As I won't be seeing her on my birthday (for, I think, probably the first time ever!)  she had made me a 'pre-birthday' sundae, crammed with allotment berries.  It was delicious!  

She said she had been inspired by the Trifle making on GBBO last night.  

Bless her face!

It really is the little things isn't it?  That was the sweet part of my post - it all goes sour from here on in - step away now if you don't want to read it!

I'm going to be a bit controversial now.  

Birmingham Public Library.  Have you seen it on the news or in the press?  

Well - if you haven't.... its this:-

The library has more than 200 public access computers, theatres, an exhibition gallery and music rooms.

• It can hold 3,000 people
• It has nine floors - three of which are out of bounds to the public (!)
• It has a brown roof garden with wild flower meadow (as all good libraries do).

And the cost (which was agreed at the beginning of what progressed to be a double dip recession)  A cool £189 million.  Mostly borrowed with a small amount of funding being donated.  This at a time when Councils country-wide were/are closing public libraries to save costs, and indeed just last year, Birmingham made cuts to its library service, felling the number of full-time staff from 260 to 161 and opening hours were reduced by a combined 139 hours each week. 

The Dutch architect Francine Houben (from the company Mecanoo) says: ""The 5,357 circles on the outside frieze of the building reflect the city's industrial heritage - the craftsmanship, the factories, the canals, the jewellery quarter."

So... we have a Dutch architect to thank (because there is, of course, a complete DEARTH of qualified architects in the Midlands, nay the UK, probably) for creating this impressive structure which looks (in my very humble opinion) like a giant cheese grater.

  

It was officially opened by Malala Yousafzai, the teenager shot in the head in Pakistan by the Taliban for championing women's rights who was treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.  Um....Why?  No-one is denying that she experienced something that no child ever should and fair play to her for standing up for her rights.... but still... why her?

Ah - that's because all the well deserving local Brummie characters/business entrepreneurs/world renowned musicians/charity stalwarts or general all round good eggs of the great city of Birmingham were obviously all on holiday.   Of Course.  

Is it me?