I have worked hard and played hard in Birmingham this week so I am completely exhausted.  Unfortunately I have eaten disastrously.  The office was full of unhealthy choices which were being paraded round constantly, either as fund raising or people celebrating going to or coming back from holidays.  I was so busy once in the office each day, it was hard to make time to go and get anything healthier!

I missed showing you a photo of my cute, tiny but perfectly formed little bathroom.  Plus they used Neutrogena products which I like.

One of the lovely things about staying in a hotel is having things done for you.  Once showered and dressed I wandered down to the dining room and helped myself to muesli with fresh fruit and yogurt with a grapefruit juice and a cup of tea.

Enjoyed eating it and walked away.  Left everything for someone else to clear away.  I do like that – no wonder my children do it whenever they think they can get away with it 🙂

This is my commute.  From the front door of the hotel, where I am standing to take this photo, to the building at the far end on the right.  No complaints about that!

Last night BJ came and met me and we wandered along the canal to The Mailbox where we had a lovely meal in Mal Maison which is in a shopping and entertainment complex called The Mailbox.  It was extraordinary how many people were out eating and drinking and still partying late in to the night.  No sign of a recession in this part of Birmingham!

The office was getting in to the spirit of the Olympics but I would have preferred to be in London to see the street entertainers they had in the office, the torch relay outside and boat flotilla :-(.  However, the Birmingham office did dress down every day, and we were encouraged to dress in the colours of the Olympic rings.  There was lots of fund raising going on, including a very poplar, chuck a wet sponge at the management and colleagues who gamely stood in the stocks outside the building.

There was a market in the square outside the office during the day and when I left this evening, a a large screen had been set up to watch the games on and a band were playing.  It would have been fun to stay and watch it with a crowd, on this warm and balmy evening but I really missed my family and couldn’t wait to get home.

I had a Caeser salad and a yogurt and granola pot on the train on the way home.  I made it home just in time to watch the Olympic ceremony.  I was home 10 minutes before it started – phew!  And I am now thoroughly enjoying it with a G&T, happy to be back with my family and feeling very proud to be English.  I can not believe this is going on just up the road and we are now all so excited about going to see some events. Go Team GB 🙂