Meeting Gilly

Who do you know that’s crazy enough to sit on a coach for 8 hours in a day just to meet me?  Why, Gilly, of course!  My lovely Lucid Gypsy friend. She of the luscious poetry and the lust for life.  Crazy, but so lovable!  Warm-hearted, impulsive, prone to hugs and tears, yet a lady of very good taste.  Didn’t she ‘follow’ me to Tavira, and like what she found there?  (Just the right mix of shabby and chique)  All this I knew, but not the lady herself.  If you’ve never ‘met’ Gilly, you’re in for a treat.

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Doesn’t that smile say it all?  Of course, there were the charms of Birmingham on offer too.  It’s not every day you’ll find charm and Birmingham in the same sentence, but I absolutely loved the city.  Even though on arrival I thought I’d come to a demolition site!

It was Gilly’s suggestion to meet in ‘Brum’ (didn’t I say she was a lady of taste?).  A ‘midway’ point between Hartlepool in north east England and Exeter in Devon.  We actually managed 8 hours together, which in the circumstances wasn’t bad.  A week might have been better.  What did we actually do, you’ll be wanting to know?  Talk!  Laugh!  Share stories.  Exchange hugs.  But not enough!  Never enough hugs.  I’ll give you a quick glimpse of our day.

It was raining gently when I got up, and this steadily increased to a deluge.  But Gilly brought the sunshine with her.  First stop, coffee, of course! No, don’t get over excited!  Gilly had an Eccles cake to keep her going till lunch.  Nothing more exotic, for now.  I had booked us on to a guided walking tour (well, you know me!) at 1.30pm.  So, after talking, and talking, we set off in the direction of the Library, for the start of the tour.

Not just any library, you understand.  Birmingham Library is a monolithic yet beautiful structure, and I suspect we could have spent most of our day there.  Built over 10 levels, with garden terraces on floors 3 and 7, with a Shakespeare Memorial Room in the Rotunda at the top.  Need I say more?

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Look- blue skies too!  We raced back down from the 9th floor just in time to join Jonathan and Dawn from Positively Birmingham Walking Tours. Jonathan, a history buff, and Dawn his apprentice.  I’ll spare you the details but it was quite useful for orientation. Our visit had coincided with graduation day for the Law students at the university, and as we headed into the ICC we were awash with gowns, mortar boards and excited faces.

For me, the best bit was Gas Street Basin and the narrowboats, and exchanging smiles and small asides with Gilly.  The tour was to last 1-2 hours, but time together was precious for me and Gilly.  And hunger pangs were setting in.  Back at the Library we tacitly agreed to drop out, made our apologies and headed back to the canals.  We sat outside the delightfully quirky Canalside Bar and let the world of water entertain us.  And talked, around eating and drinking, of course!

All too soon it was time to head towards separation.  I walked Gilly back in the direction of the Bull Ring and there we found a sunny seat outside Bill’s.  Apparently also a favourite of Gilly’s down in Exeter.  Bramble mojito was a very lovely way to round off our day.  Gilly had Peach Bellini.  Ah, bliss!  I wonder when we can do it again?

For Gilly’s version of events, have a look at A Gypsy and a Restless One.

129 comments

  3. Ho wonderful that you had this time together! One of the unexpected delights of blogging has been connecting with new fr4iends all around the world. When one gets to meet in person it’s the icing on the cake for sure. What a lovely day.

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  4. I’m trying to imagine your joy…
    Must have been wonderful to stay with Gilly during that precious visit to Birmingham!
    The pictures are really fabulous……lucky you!

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  8. How lovely that the two of you could meet up! Gilly looks like a real honey. I might have known that you’d lure her towards the canal and the boats. Great photos, Jo. Hubby and I met in Birmingham when we were both students there, so it holds a special place in our hearts. Seems such a long time ago now. *sigh* 🙂

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    1. It IS a long time ago, Ad, but I’m so glad to bring back good memories. 🙂 🙂 What were you both studying? Apart from each other 🙂 The city will have changed a lot since then (secret- I’m doing my Monday walk there so you’ll get a better look. Hush, now!) Have a happy weekend! Is that house somewhere near ready yet? (sorry I asked 🙂 )

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      1. Hubby was at Birmingham University doing Electrical Engineering, and I was at Teacher Training College in Edgbaston . Yes you’re right, we did spend an inordinate amount of time studying one another. 😀

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  10. What a lovely city Jo, and that library!! Wow, never seen anything like that, with gardens and all.
    I’ve also just met up with 2 Perth bloggers this week, and it’s lovely to get to know the real person behind the words we read on their blogs.
    Gilly sounds like a wonderful person. I’m off to “meet” her.

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    1. Fantastic, Sami! How are you? I haven’t dropped by ‘yours’ in so long! Just too much to keep up with, isn’t there? I’m just about to quit the blog for the day but I’ll be back this evening and pop over. 🙂 Hugs!

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  11. What can I say? Thank you for photos of Gilly, despite her reservations. Your warmth and delight in meeting took me back to Łódz. I can imagine why you bowed gracefully out of the guided tour, and settled by the canal for that most precious of things, a good chinwag. It was great to share your surprise at the unexpected pleasures of this city, and its diversity seen through your eyes. May there be many more conversions of virtual friendships.

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    1. Meg, you always get straight to the heart of things. You are a very easy person to love. 🙂
      I don’t do people photos at all well (I’m practising 🙂 ) and not many people like photos of themselves, but I thought I did not too badly with my girl behind the smile. 🙂 Sue says she’s a giggler. I don’t think we giggled much and some of the conversation was very serious, but I’m so glad I met her. Now we just have to join the triangle. Or is it a square? Oh heavens! 🙂 🙂 Have a lovely day!

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  12. How very cool to meet someone from cyberville, eh?! And GILLY of all people. But let’s see, if I flew 8 hours, I could meet someone in the Algarve some day!!

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  14. All this kindness is making me shy, I don’t know what to say, I’m overwhelmed. I knew you’d write a lovely post darling, it’s perfect (apart from the me pics) and really can’t thank you enough for our absolutely brilliant day together. We’ll definitely be doing it again. I’ll come back when I can to answer some of the comments, meanwhile an early start driving to Hampshire in the morning! Big hugs x:-)x

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  15. Pingback: A Gypsy and a Restless One – Lucid Gypsy

  16. Jo my son has just graduated from Birmingham University, so I recognised those buildings in your pictures, I wonder if I was there on the same graduation day as you? 7th of July? Wouldn’t that be funny? I have loved going to visit him regularly for the past 3 years and will certainly miss it. Birmingham has the best Christmas market in England….in my opinion 😄 I am glad you had such a lovely time there with your friend.

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    1. Shame, Gilda- I was there yesterday 🙂 One of the other blogs I follow, A Bit of Culture, lives in the area and has featured the city too. He also says the Christmas market is great. I never fancied Brum much but I have been surprised. Congratulations to your son! Funnily enough, mine has been doing a part time course on Audiology there too. 🙂

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  17. How wonderful you and Gilly toured the beautiful city together! Love her beautiful smile, great photos. I have enjoyed her photos and poems so much. Thank you for the post, Jo! 🙂

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  18. Why couldn’t you have done this LAST year? Then I would have joined you. Need more than one day though. It is time the three of us sorted out that week in Morocco or Florence or …… The library does look great as does the Selfridges building and there is so much more to see, the botanic gardens, the jewellery quarter. My last visit was for a meeting somewhere in the centre, but I didn’t linger. Glad you had a good time 🙂

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    1. That arts and crafts garden you recommended looked good too, Jude, but with just a few hours… 😦 Had you suggested Brum last year I’d have hopped on the Megabus! I just had no idea where it ran to. And please don’t suggest Plymouth! I know it does but my bum would be beyond numb 🙂 🙂

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      5. My brother lives in Plymouth – has done for 40 years, but I haven’t visited him there for almost the same length of time! I do fancy the South Hams though for a short break.

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      6. That’s a long time not to see a brother! I’m getting a little lost in the family histories. Has he visited you? South Hams rings a bell but I’ve no idea where or what? Us travel writers! 🙂 🙂 I’d Google but I’m supposed to be writing you an email in this bit of spare time!

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      7. Haha… yes I did see him every year when our parents were alive, he’d come up north with Christmas presents and be the ‘blue-eyed’ boy for a few days, whilst I… well we won’t go in to that. He’s 7 years older than me and left home before I really got to know him. Last seen at my youngest son’s wedding 4 years ago. His kids are opposites of mine. Girl, boy, girl, girl. Whereas I had boy, girl, boy, boy. All our girls have blue eyes, all our boys have brown! Maybe I shall get to Plymouth next year. There are some nice bits. I think…

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