brum beach

Oh yes, the weather might not help but I guess loads of people here already been to the Brum beach in the middle of Chamberlain Square at least once this summer (?). The first time I saw it with my own eyes was in the beginning of June and there was not good weather at all but nobody cared as well. Neither I was bothered, to be honest.

I pretty much think it makes Birmingham much more interesting because you have to have guts enough to build a beach environment in the middle of a Midlands important city and pretend it is pretty much normal!!

Fair enough if there is just coast up north or down south. It`s part of the British sense of humour and it’s for sure just a proof that British people know how to deal with the lack of summertime, anyway. It’s bonkers!






You are welcomed with a sign that you are everywhere else but in a Spain paradise like Majorca, then you are invited to step on a real sand area near the fountain where you can also enjoy a chilling moment at some of their beach chairs. Not to mention there are refreshments and food for the family. You have to pay, of course.

The monarch beach , as its popular known stays in Birmingham until September and as I could notice it’s success between tourists and brummies that already brought your buckets and spades to the place.

wicked brum 1

I am not a "shopping at Selfridges person" but today I had to be. I mean I had to window shopping around there for a couple of hours and I have to confess I had a bit of fun right after I found this shop!Their ideas and items are just brilliant!




oh yeah you will be mine


Better than this, the prices are not so scary as you can imagine for a Selfridge`s standard. Just check the under £10 items to have a better idea. Wicked!

god bless the cbbies

I can’t imagine myself trying to entertain Sas up more than cbbies does. She can spend hours watching all shows on it and not to mention it’s pretty much educative and I am also learning some English with it to be quite honest. who can resist to those catchy songs, huh?




And the programmes are totally bonkers! Full of crazy ideas such as how to teach you make a bird nest with plastic bowls and colour strings. I passed this one because I can picture the messy the house would be after a bird nest trying. And guess what who would deal with the mess?

My favourite moment is the bedtime story (yeah!) that as you can all check here is presented by a pretty much respected bedtime storyteller!

I just diddn`t find out if there are those kind of 70`s children programmes from british tv on cbbies. Those pretty controversial ones like this very trippy one below, huh?




All I know my favourite british cartoon, Wallace and Grommit, is also an old one and I just have the DVD at home and I can watch it like Sas does. If you never saw Wallace and Grommit, please let your child inside spend some time in from of the telly tonight! Absolutely brilliant!

corrina corrina

It’s just about 6 months but it seems ages I am here and how I don’t have idea how much time more I will be able to stay I will make the most of it, starting with some challenges. The July one is looking after a child! Yeah, right. It seems to be easy if you grow up surrounded of nieces and nephews. Not my case. But I am trying to be successful in the art of au pairing.

I do enjoy child but I feel a bit like Woopi Goldberg’s character, Corrina! No qualifications at all but with a very creative and imaginative mind. To deal with child you have to be quite a imaginative person, I should say.




You probably remember this film! The music, the interracial romance and the problems and solutions both sides can find are quite an important piece of 50`s life, if you are into american way of life issues. I do! And you probably remember Molly Singer, the little one Corrina used to look after was a kind of sweet girl that just had to cope with a tough moment losing her mom. Corrina is a hell of different nanny!

And as Corrina I have to learn day by day how to convince my little rascal here to go to school walking or even to put the uniform in the morning. As being too demanding is not my cup of tea, I do confess it takes time to convince her. But doesn`t matter because we have so much fun listening to music ( she is into music and can spend the whole day singing or playing her toy instruments)on our way to school or even before bedtime. High School Musical and Take That is on her favourite tracklist, so I am kind of into Troy and Hannan Montana`s bits.

Not to mention that looking after a 5 years old child can be the best way of learning English because it takes ages to understand what she asks sometimes.yes, she has brummie accent! lol

As it is a pretty much a temporary job I can be honest to say I am more learning than executing but at least daily laugh is guaranteed!

brum by bus

Have you already watched Brum?

it’s a cartoon about the adventures of a little car in the streets of Birmingham, of course.Just as Brum I am pretty much enjoy to adventure myself through this city. The only difference is that I can do it here by bus!





It maybe sounds a bit cheesy but I still like those double Decker sightseeing’s in the cities I am visiting. In this case, living. Luckily, we have one service like this in Birmingham, and plus, it’s for free.

Yes, the Historic Bus tours starts from the Museums at Victoria Square, on Edmund Street to be exactly. The journey through eight stops takes about 3 hours, ish. You can get off the bus any stop your choice having exactly one hour to visit the place you choose.

I do confess I skipped the “Pen Room” during this trip, a museum about story of Birmingham’s pen trade. But I already been there weeks later and I can tell you it is a nice experience to know and understand about pen-trade
of Birmingham.





I also believe its not necessary one hour to visit The Aston Manor Transport Museum even if you are a “vintage buses lover”. I spent some time talking to someone who works there and it’s was pretty much interesting to know about the transport in Brum, but I confess that the smell of diesel in the place makes you a bit dizzy. Anyway it’s nice to pop up there and give them some kind of money help ( any change) because the museum is kept by the enthusiasm of people who likes and collect buses.

Nothing to do with transport but if you like football you can cross the street and pay a quickie visit to Aston Villa stadium, Villa Park. It’s about history as well.

The Aston Hall would be our next stop but it is closed until August so we go right to The Soho House, also known as Mathews Bolton’s house. Particularly, my favourite museum in Birmingham. And If you are not sure who Matthew Bolton is please don’t miss the chance of click on his name to find out more about this amazing brummie.







The Soho House itself is just gorgeous. All its rooms amazingly designed of this 19th construction invites you to spend more than just one hour there to experience a bit of the history of Birmingham industry and also know more about the fantastic lunar society meetings that happened in the house between 1765 and 1813.

I also skipped Sarehole Mill, as known as inspiring location for Tolkien’s character and also mentioned in the Lord of The Rings. I didn’t visit this during this tour because I would never have chance to see all spots if I would stop in each one of the eight stops. I truly recommend you to do the tour twice because it is impossible to catch up with everything in just one journey!

I didn’t visit Sarehole Mill but I had a wicked moment at the bus trying to catch up with the tour guide’s jokes about Birmingham life and I also had my brit pop culture updated when I just was informed by the same guide ladies that we were passing by the street where John Taylor from Duran Duran used to study. It made my day, to be quite honest. Nostalgic but honest!





And finally we arrived at the last stop of the trip, The Blakesley Hall. The nice timber-framed building (that Shakespeare sort of house) that is also an great reason to have a nice coffee (and also a slice of coffee cake if you are an addicted as I am) at its Tea Room. You couldn’t imagine that near the city centre you can find a farmland spot from more than 500 years ago.

This is a great reason to visit Blakesley Hall and also all landmarks which Historic Bus drops you off. Just remember that the tours will happen in the first Sundays of each month until this October.