Shiny New Birmingham

Went out early to buy a dishwasher; the old one packed in, and awful to say, but easier to buy a new than mend the old; hate that, but not much choice when we have so few days here.

Then made Paul's favourite cake, known as Chocolate Heaven, with a kilo of dark chocolate and 1,200ml of double cream, plus brandy snaps, amaretto and raspberries - ably and messily assisted by Zion and Allegra. Change of clothes needed after that.

And then a precious time with just Zion, he's such good company. We went on the train into Birmingham city centre, mainly to see if my angel at Jessops (which hasn't closed) could do anything with my camera. Nothing doing, says I need to send it to Fuji when we get back to Portugal. As you can imagine, slightly depressing, and having to press the shutter with a toothpick whenever it won't go down, is hardly conducive to taking many photos.

This one was taken looking down at the new tramline near New Street; this part opened in 2016 and I'd not seen it before. Birmingham was well served by trams (initially horse-drawn in the 1800's, and then steam-powered, then electric) when my Mum was a girl - the last one ran until 1953. 

And then Paul's party. Typically of him, with a very varied assortment of people, including a Muslim doctor still observing Ramadan, a workmate with his Zambian wife, and many others. Opening match of World Cup watched by some, and then lots of eating, with the children running around in the garden.