We popped into Birmingham today to go to the Andromeda Bookstore, primarily to buy Buffy and Angel DVDs. Andromeda has fallen on hard times, closed, and then reopened in a smaller space, and I wanted to support them. Alas, they no longer sell DVDs. We found Angel season 3 in a nearby comic shop, though.

We got lost on the way home, and were starving to boot; eventually we gave in to desperation and scarfed McDonald’s. It is not good to be sick and have low blood sugar and be lost. Frankly, Birmingham is an unlovely and crowded city, and I don’t like it. Apologies to any brummies reading this. If you can show me the good side of the city, I’d be happy to give it another try. (The museum with the pre-Raphaelite art is admittedly fantastic.)

We went off to the Mynydd Gwyn A&S meeting, at which little A&S actually happened (Ed worked on armour and Kevin put grommets into a bodice before we arrived) but much camaraderie ensued, as well as tasty food provided by Ed and Marian. They also gave us pint glasses, having overheard earlier that one of our goals on this trip was to replace our many broken ones. (Yes, there’s a British shop about 10 minutes from our house. Shush. They don’t count unless you buy them in Britain, so there.)

Then we drove into London, and without difficulty found the home of Fiona/Melisende and John, It was lovely to see them, but I was still sick. They plied me with Lemsip (which worked well, but lasts for only 4 hours! So much for a good night’s dose) and I slept hard, getting up only once to take more Lemsip and snort more nasal spray. (Oh, and the nasal spray warns not to use it more than 3 times in 24 hours, but only lasts about 2 hours. Yeah, right.) A long day, with miles and seeing friends accomplished, but not much else. They can’t all be wildly interesting!