This week’s story is best told through its dinners.
Monday we find ourselves at The Indian Brewery. We order two naans and a side of fish. This is pit-stop on the way to cocktails after a few hours in the sun.
Tuesday ends at Birmingham’s most notorious institution: Maccies on the Ramp. We have a tradition, born in darker days, which always finds us either here or Temple Row. We meet near Ikon and take the long way round discussing startups and runners.
Wednesday’s dinner is a humble Meal Deal: It’s a cost-effective way of powering our mini-celebration of St Swithin’s day. There’s two excellent coffees - I haven’t had espresso drinks in a hot minute so these keep me up into the wee hours. The night ends with me extolling the virtues of powdered jasmine tea - which is perfectly proportioned to blend with a pint of iced water. Then I go for a (very) long walk.
Thursday is a killer serving of Falafel & Halloumi with a side of Ayran. It caps AN’s leaving drinks - which are bittersweet - where I see some great people and am explicitly asked not to blog about something. Brunch is an oatmeal smoothie(!) along the crescent following a pretty decent 5K time.
Friday’s lunch runs long — I end up playing leaving-buddy — and so for dinner I end up eating reheated Daal on a balcony overlooking the river and the skyline, and it’s legitimately fire.
Saturday is the Carbonara pizza at Pizza Pilgrims. What started as birthday plans in March have morphed a few times until the latest weather-motivated pivot puts us in Mercato Metropolitano. Some people come, some people don’t, and eventually us stragglers find ourselves at the MP. FS, MT and I have a tradition, formed in New Products days, which repeatedly finds us here, eating spaghetti. It's nice to say goodbye to Mercato.
Sunday is a a relaxed day - the first day with a poor step-count - and dinner is Loobia Polo in Greenland followed by dessert from Creamz in Wembley. This is the exact tube journey I made last Saturday, which makes for reflection. After talking about pivoting in the morning, I’m brought up-to-date on memes in the evening.
Do I miss Birmingham? Do I miss London? I’m not sure. I miss most of the people though. Even the people I didn’t really speak to.
My return to the UK had a todo-list of 3 major items of which I failed 2. Meaning now I have to send an awkward email. I also had a wish-list of 3 items, of which I also completed 2: ask me about the 1 sometime, it’s a funny story.
Oats for breakfast every day.
I’m not the same person I was when I left, and that was only six months ago.
