Just had Mum and Dad in town for a few days. They were over from NZ to see the new grandson in London and are making the most of it with a bit of a look around. Stratford today, Paris tomorrow.

They did the Birmingham thing properly – we went to (but not through) the Cadbury factory. The whole town of Bournville smells of chocolate.

We toured the canals (on which, more in a moment). We did the Bullring experience. We walked the streets of Moseley and examined the tornado damage. We took the bus into the Chinese Quarter for dinner. We went up to Rugeley and saw the giant power station cooling towers a la Simpsons opening titles. We went down to Coventry to see the cathedral.

Much fun was had, and I think when she gets home, Mum will probably be able to hang her suitcase on a fridge without even unpacking it.

Bobbie cooked some yummy dinners. We went for long walks. We got to see Jake play djembe (or ‘bongos’ if you’re not making the distinction between large African hand drums and small Puerto Rican ones). We played lots of games of cards – particularly Stop The Bus, which we’d played so many times growing up that it’s almost unbelievable that I’d forgotten the rules.

We watched many, many episodes of Sportsnight – the TV show where Aaron Sorkin learned how to write well enough to create The West Wing. We enjoyed (endured) the DVD of the opera ‘Don Giovanni’ starring a stark raving bonkers Kiri Te Kanawa.

There was a cricket match of some sort going on down the road from us, and Dad seemed interested in what was going on in there. Mum was more fascinated by the flowers that are hung from or arranged in piles within every available space around the city. Odd that I hadn’t even seen them until she pointed them out – and now they just seem to be everywhere.

We also found the man with the worst job in Birmingham. At least, that’s what his sign said.

Note to other travellers to Birmingham: while it is generally agreed by all previous visitors that the city has an unfairly poor reputation that any brief look around will dispel immediately – it must be said that the most scenic thing about the canal lines is the canal itself.

If you are in a canal boat, the canal becomes the only thing that you can’t see – and you start to notice that what you are taking a tour of is the back end of disused factories. Yes, it’s a leisurely cruise by boat, but if the urban decay doesn’t get to you, the bored drone and nasal rising inflection of the narrator will.

Walk along the canals. Look at the canals. Don’t go on the boat tours.