Friday mornings follow a standard approach, I grab a free Birmingham Mail when I get off the train and make my way up Broad St to The Figure of Eight for a sausage bap and a cup of coffee, all for the budget friendly sum of £1.69. Whoever coined the expression Rip Off Britain has never joined me for Friday breakfast.
The Figure of Eight gets its name from the fact that when the canal system was set up in the 18th and the 19th centuries they crossed the country in a Figure of Eight which centred on Birmingham. It is a pub that I like, okay it's your standard Wetherspoons offering but it is by some way the cheapest pint on Broad St and also boasts the biggest beer garden in the city centre. Granted there isn't as much greenery in it as I'd like but it's not a bad place for an outdoor pint.
The post work drinking numbers had risen to ten by this stage (following our earlier stop off at West 12) and the drinks order was a real mixed bag with most people opting for something different. Unsurprisingly I was the only one on the Ruddles Best Bitter.
I was also the only one not eating out so I was an uninterested spectator while they debated the venue for that night's meal. I couldn't pronounce the name of the eventual winner but it was a curry house in the city centre called something like Itchy Ass !!
They stayed for a solitary drink while I got myself another pint, said my goodbyes and settled down to watch the Brazil v Mexico World Cup match cursing the fact that sausage baps are only available until midday.
I stopped for a very unflattering selfie on the way out....
Surely when Bucks Fizz said the camera never lies they weren't telling the truth?!!
UPDATE 17th October
It was the second week in a row that I had arranged to meet Shelley straight from work on a Friday. The plan was a relatively simple one, so we thought, I would meet Shelley at 5.15pm in the Wetherspoons on Broad St. I arrived at The Figure of Eight and there was no sign of her, so I assumed therefore that she would be in The Soloman Cutler (a Wetherspoons/Lloyds establishment) but she wasn't in there either. I could almost hear the strains of 'All by myself' playing in my head. I decided to head back to The Figure of Eight and wait for her but as I soon as I arrived I spotted her by the door, unfortunately my earlier visit coincided with a trip to the ladies !!
We were celebrating our six year anniversary the next day (yes, really it's been that long !!) so, as you would imagine, we are very familiar with one another by now, Shelley had already been up the bar and bought me a pint from the Wetherspoons real ale festival that was taking place. It was a great choice, Oakham Great Gustav, a pale golden ale that had been brewed exclusively for the festival.
Unfortunately this was my first, and not my planned second, visit to the Figure of Eight that day, You can usually set your watch to the fact that I will be in the pub at circa 8.05am on a Friday morning indulging in a bit of coffee and sausage bap action. Unfortunately staff at Cross Country trains hadn't set their watches that morning so a half hour delay on my train to work meant that I had to head to the office bapless.
The main purpose of our night out was to catch up with friends Deb and Andy who we were meeting at 6pm in The Soloman Cutler. I must admit I was looking quite dapper for the occasion in new attire, a shirt, jean combo..
We headed down Broad St to meet them after a solitary pint.
UPDATE 24th October
If Broad St awarded hat-trick balls, rather than stars, me and Shelley would now be in possession of one as this was our third consecutive Friday night appearance on Birmingham's self proclaimed 'premier entertainment venue'.
This visit was a civilised one, we were meeting up with my Dad to go to the Symphony Hall to see the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra perform the likes of Bach's Orchestral Suite No 3, Prokofiev's Montagues and Capulets and Khachaturian's Spartacus - Adagio. Impressed?!! Well, don't think we've gone all highbrow, you probably know those particular pieces as, the music from the Hamlet cigar advert, and the theme tunes from The Apprentice and The Onedin Line. I wouldn't know a musical scale if it hit me in the FACE (NB That's a subtle gag for the musical scholars !!).
My Dad was already waiting in the pub for me, when I arrived straight from work, and caught me off guard when I asked him what he wanted, 'A pint of Peroni and Wiltshire ham, egg and chips' he said without flinching. I was expecting him to say half a Carling, especially as I'd told him, when clarifying arrangements a few days before, that we wouldn't be eating !! The Peroni was an unexpected choice too, premium strength Italian lager for a pensioner from Hull? The world's gone mad !! Not to worry, I dutifully obliged, as any son would, however the thought, wait 'til it's his round did cross my mind !!!
Wetherspoon's international beer festival was still in full swing so I opted for a pint of OG Wheat IPA, a beer all the way from Oregon in the US of A to complement the old man's Italian number.
Getting served was an absolute nightmare not helped by two staffing no shows and the fact that the girl that served me quite clearly didn't want to be there. When I eventually got it my beer was very pleasant though I had to disappoint my Dad and substitute Italy for the Netherlands swapping the unavailable Peroni for Amstel, I didn't tell him, and if he noticed he didn't let on.
Shelley turned up which is more than can be said for my Dad's meal, there'd been a mix up with the order and his meal had gone to another table. Quelle surprise !!
I was worried that if they didn't hurry up he'd still be eating it part way through the string solo in Verdi's Force of Destiny Overture (the Stella ad). Thankfully it did eventually turn up so it was eyes down..
...before we headed off.
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