Nitenite

I had a meeting in London, this afternoon, but I needed to be in Birmingham, this evening, so the easiest thing to do was drive. And it was a nice day for driving; clear and dry. In fact, it only stopped being a pleasure once I arrived into Birmingham and had to navigate to tangled road system, which was already, at four-thirty, stuffed with traffic.

Eventually, though, I found the car park just over the road from the hotel (both discovered by the Minx, who is ace at this kind of thing). I must admit I had my doubts when she first told me about the hotel, which is, apparently, a 'pod' hotel. I didn't mind the idea of a small room - my hotel criteria are limited to a clean bed and a good shower - but I was uncertain about the fact it was windowless.

The lobby just inside the hotel entrance was a nice surprise, as was the bar and the very friendly staff. Once I was checked in I went up the sweeping, spiral staircase to my room. The photo is taken from the end of the corridor!

Having hiked to my room and freshened up, I yomped back to the bar for a quick drink and a read before heading out to find somewhere to eat. Firstly, I tried the Mailbox, but despite the proliferation of restaurants, there was not one that looked appealing. I hadn't heard of all of them but they every one seemed to be part of a chain. Despite the wind and rain, I decided to wander into Birmingham proper but couldn't find anywhere that ticked both the boxes of looking attractive and open.

In the end I went back to the hotel, troughed what was left of my travel snacks and went back to the bar, where I spent the rest of the evening in the company of my book and a couple of glasses of wine.

PS I feel it would be ungrateful not to mention that the Minx took to Twitter to ask for recommendations for me but although Josie kindly replied, I was back at the hotel by the time I saw it on my 'phone.