Birmingham

the 12:50 to Birmingham International 

and a tiny women with two huge pink suitcases on wheels - boards at "New Street"

then confidently

and without any fuss

finds herself a seat

for her and her pink entourage.

Birmingham 

relentless Birmingham

bustling 

alive

busy with people being busy

busy being busy

through cuttings and tunnels we glide

and nothing changes

the view is of criss-crossing railway lines

tower blocks

chimneys 

factories 

building sites are everywhere

the cranes more prevalent than the hundreds of church spires  - which,

somewhere,

somewhere largely unseen - prick it's open skies

the scaffolding dotted with men in high viz

going about their work

as if Birmingham has yet to be built 

sites of industry

sites of dereliction

industrial units offering products of all kinds

services like industrial laundries

railway maintenance vehicles in a line

building supply firms offering "everything for the trade"

and dotted about the chaos 

like tiny islands in the midst of a vast ocean

are the residential streets

near abandoned gardens which won't win any prizes

with views into the backs of houses which aren't going to win any either 

some; trying to keep up appearances

some; not so

the places where the good folk of Birmingham return to after a hard day's work

cars parked

lawns cut and gardens tended

corner shops for that forgotten pint of milk

houses

houses in streets

streets amidst the industry

streets amidst the history

a place to call home

a place to be and work and live and to be proud to come from.

Birmingham