Farewell London with all your pink signs for a few days.  This one was on the underground at London Bridge.

I was heading to Birmingham for work for a few days.  I grabbed a Bircher Muesli with pistachios and dried cranberries to eat on the train.  It was very good but probably really high fat as it seemed very creamy.

I worked hard all day, breaking to have a tuna and cucumber sandwich for lunch and a bag of popcorn from EAT.

I finished work at about 6:30 and strolled all of 5 minutes across the square to my favoured hotel.  We have a budget we have to stick to and recently the Hilton Garden Inn has been too expensive but it is cheaper at the moment so my colleague and I were delighted to be able to book it.  This is my room.

I really like staying here.  Not necessarily for a holiday but as a base when you are working it is perfect.

This hotel room has everything you need and it is all good quality.  I would rather be at home but if I have to be away then I am very comfortable here.

My colleague and I went out for supper to Carluccios.  I had a lovely aperitif of a Bombay fine and tonic with fresh thyme in it which was really refreshing.  I would never have thought of making this but I will be serving this at home.

For starter I had foccaccia with oil and balsamic

followed by a goats cheese salad which had pine nuts and sun dried tomatoes in it.

I confess I did indulge and had a meringue with raspberries as a little treat.  It was quite a modest portion so not too disasterous.

We ate outside as it was a warm and pleasant evening but did not linger long after we had eaten.  It had been a very long day so I wanted a chance to relax.  And we both wanted to take advantage of the amazingly fast wifi in the hotel.  I am currently sitting at the little desk, downloading music and simultaneously upgrading all the apps on my phone.  Apologies for the power surge Birmingham but my wifi is painfully slow at home so I am enjoying this 🙂