Another Midlands Meet-up?

move in your message Thu 10-Jan-13 10:39:37 you mention Glass or have I got the wrong end of the stick.

No, I've lost the plot Glass ! I meant Grace. It could be senility or because I am still ill and grumpy. Sorry

The Copthorne was OK for a drink although DD was horrified when I said we were going there. I would say Strada or Piccolino at Symphony Hall would provide a wide enough range of types of lunch plus wine and as I said, when I contacted them for October they were very friendly. I will also find out if the Museum has a licence yet and follow their advice on not having a repetition of last time where nobody seemed to have told the restaurant manager we were coming- if that is what we settle on.
Next (or rather first) thing is when?
Feb is a bit of a dreary month and could benefit from some jollity. Is Saturday best? The once we have a couple of provisional dates we could see who is up for it.

Any day of the week suits me unless we have something else in the diary. Saturdays will always be busiest though.

If we do go back to the museum we will still have the problem of what to do when they throw us out at 4 pm. I'm OK with that but those on the trains might find it a bit difficult.

Saturday is good for me as long as its not the 22nd. In the week my best day is Thursday, but I will do my best to fit in with other suggestions.

For me Saturdays are best as DH has occasional hospital apointments which can be Tues or Wed, thenI go to Literature on Wednesday mornings, I have NADFAS one Thursday a month and our village Thursday group every 1st and 3rd Thursday and Book Club every 1st Monday of the month!
Plus, parking at the station is free at the weekend as opposed to £5,50 on weekdays!
Did others find that once they had retired, weekdays filled up quickly but weekends were the quiet times?
So, any takers for a Saturday in Feb (did you mean 23rd Glitabo?)

gracesmum Yes I did mean the 23rd. I am going on a quilting workshop and I am going to make (attempt to make) a hungry caterpillar quilt. I have never done this before so it should be fun.
I must get the details of from you of where you park your car as I went to the wrong one last time and had to pay.

Nope Grace we have become commitment phobes after years of being obliged to do things for work and the community. We go to Pilates twice most weeks but if something better comes up we don't. We went to the gym for a while on a trial run before our hols and will do so again once my back improves but can do that any day. We pay subs to an organisation but insist they are non-member subs so that we don't feel obliged to support them if we want to do something else. I don't think we have ever been such free spirits but we are always busy. We have a long list of things we will do when we have time but haven't needed it yet. Horses for courses.

Sorry about that movedalot I'd got the impression from your suggestions that you were hoping to come, but never mind. It was good to meet you last time.

On rereading, maybe the nope was in answer to my question about days filling up?

Grace I have given a completely wrong impression! I was responding to: "Did others find that once they had retired, weekdays filled up quickly but weekends were the quiet times?"

By 'commitment phobe' I mean that we don't commit to all those things that you do. Which of course means that a meet up would probably come under the heading of 'something better'.

I have every intention of being there subject to the date and will be happy to do any research on possible venues.

I've got some time off work 29 Jan to 10 Feb; may go away towards the end of the second week for a few days.

Hope I can make Birmingham this time . to movedalot; sorry to hear about your back. Dates during half term tricky............guesswhat I'm on Grannyduty(and loving it!)

I know your back is playing up, Movedalot but would it be a hardship for you to do a recce at restaurants around Symphony Hall ? Please don't undertake anything until it feels better, but if we could try to fix a date or 2 in Feb we could take it from there?

Dates:
How about 7/9/16 February? Any preferences? Any definite no-nos?

I can do all of those dates in February.

Feb looks good for me (not the very first weekend of the month 2/3.)

I could do 9 or 16 anybody else got a preference?

Possibly not 16th as DH is talking about taking me away for our anniversary.

DS3 is here at the moment so will pick his brains

I had a chat with DS and his fiancée about restaurants in the Broad St and Brindley Place areas. This is what they had to say:

Their favourite is Bank but it is rather expensive as is Edmonds
Carluccios is small and expensive
Pizza Express is OK but they might not be too happy with us sitting there for so long.

This left:

Easiest to get to by road:

Brasshouse – right on Broad St – a bit city pub like
Hyatt – right on Broad St – already mentioned

Brindley Place – bit further to walk

Café Rouge – reasonably priced
Picolinos – good atmosphere
All Bar One – apparently it has a nice upstairs room which we might like. Variety of prices and menu which they describe as middle line.

Of course there may be others but these are the ones they know.

They did strongly recommend Le Truc but it is not in the same location.

I hope this helps but if you have any more questions I am sure they would be more than happy to help.

That is an interesting list of venues movedalot and thanks to your DS and fiancee for their help. The only one of those I have been to is Bank and I remember it being very crowded and difficult to find a seat. However that was a few years ago. Would all of these places be OK with a large group of people staying for about 4 hours?
I like the idea of us being able to sit in a group as we did last time (was it the Copthorne?) and be able to relax and sit back in comfort and chat. If we can do that and eat in the in any of your suggested venues that would be good.

glitabo We could just go to the Copthorne, they did food too.

I did explain about the group to them ebfore the discussion so they were expressing their view based on that. I can't imagine that they were ever in these places on a Saturday lunchtime so would suggest that once we have a concesus, we call the restaurant in question and see what they have to say.

I vote for the copthorne. At least I know where it is!
AND they do RED wine!

Jeni worry not, all my suggestions are 'wet'

I would rather go to Piccolinos at Symphony Hall if I may express a preference. DD recommended it last time round and while the Copthorne was fine for a drink it mught be nice to have a change! Down by the canal can be very picturesque.