Birmingham Days

Peter, my older brother, sent me the following link.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001p713

Open Book – Birmingham – BBC Sounds.

It is a half hour podcast discussing the literary scene in Birmingham, England today.

He sent it to me because, after Chiswick County Grammar School for Boys, I went up to Birmingham University. Within the context of the podcast, it references Hall Green, where I rented a room in my first year. Moseley, I had Geography friends in that neighbourhood. And Edgbaston, where the university is located in the City.

Suddenly, there are memories of hitch-hiking along the M1 from London to Birmingham. On the weekends a group of us would go caving in the Mendips or Derbyshire. I would return with a rucksack full of wet, dirty clothes. My landlady was appalled.

At Birmingham, I completed my first degree in Geography, with a minor in Mathematics. the Chair was Professor David Linton. Other notables, for me, were Roland Moss (Biogeography), Gordon Warwick ( Geomorphology) and Harry Thorpe (Historical Geography).

Each Summer, I would take a BUNAC flight to North America. This led to two field seasons working out of the McGill Sub-Arctic Research station in Schefferville. This allowed me to experience the Canadian Shield in interior Labrador. After a Summer in the wilderness, I would buy a Greyhound $99 dollar ticket for ninety nine days. The first year, I ventured South to Vera Cruz, Mexico, across to California, up to Victoria, BC, then back to catch my flight home from Montreal to Heathrow, London.

The second year, Peter had emigrated to Toronto. We travelled in his sports car down to Cape Cod.

The next leg was Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) on the island of Montserrat, BWI. And so the story unfolds.