Grand Central Birmingham

Posted on by Libby Price

If I had to list things that I like – after the obvious family and friends – then the following things would feature high up the list:

So imagine my delight when all of the above could be combined into one evening!!

I was invited to take part in a focus group about the new advertising for Grand Central, and offered a behind the scenes nose around the site which is due to open next month.

Grand Central logo

I’d never been involved in market research before – so it was all a bit intriguing.  I arrived at the management suite at Grand Central (the shopping centre that is being built above New Street station in the centre of Birmingham to replace the old slightly grim Pallasades. There were 4 other members of my group, and we were all 30 / 40 something parents.

First we talked a bit about Birmingham and what we all love about it (variety of shops / bars / restuarants, the fact the centre is compact, the mixture of architecture, even The Owls got a mention!) and what we’re not so fond of (the traffic, difficulty parking, how busy it can be)  We then talked more about Grand Central and the advertising that was being proposed for it.

Now I have to confess to not knowing much about what Grand Central was going to be.  I knew there was going to be a huge John Lewis (obvs!) but not much else.  I wasn’t sure what other retail and dining options there were going to be.  I wasn’t sure whether it fitted into the same space that the Pallasades did, or how it was going to connect to other areas of Birmingham. And I have to say 90 minutes into the various discussions we had – and looking at the proposed adverts – I was none the wiser either!  Thankfully today I’ve discovered the Grand Central Birmingham website which gives loads of information – and has made me much more excited at the shops and eateries we’re going to have.

The whole process of a market research focus group was really interesting.  Being able to waffle on about your own thoughts on stuff (rather than just typing it down here into the ether) was fun.  Whilst our overall feelings, as a group, about the adverts was quite similar – we did discuss it all, and changed each other’s opinions at times.  It all felt very ‘safe’ and as if you could say exactly what you thought without fear of being ridiculed.  Whether that was just because we had a lovely group – or the particular facilitator we had – I’m not sure.  But I really enjoyed it!

And once the ‘work’ was over, we got to don our full health and safety personal protective equipment and go and have a look round the site…..

Grand Central

And site it is.  It is VERY much still a working site.  Whilst the main atrium is in, and the escalators down to the station – there is still a lot of work to be done. And I mean a lot.  Floors / walls / lighting and that’s before the shops can even think about shop fitting with their own branding, shelves, stock etc!  And it’s all going to be ready for Thursday 24th September 2015…..

I was ‘slightly’ incredulous at this – but maybe the 3,500 people they have on site at the moment are startlingly more efficient than my workforce??

The frontage to the new John Lewis is hidden from prying eyes by roller shutters – but the width of the frontage is HUGE, it’s got to be 4 times the size of the entrance to John Lewis in Touchwood, Solihull.

The huge open plan space is amazing – and the light that will flood the place is immense – even down to the platforms, for the first time ever!  The roof is made out of the same material as the Eden project domes – and is self cleaning (even from seagull and pigeon poo – of which there is a lot in Birmingham). And throughout the mall, the height of any counters or tables is limited to 1.4m to ensure that people have a clear view around at all times.

Currently Westfield in London has the biggest footfall of a shopping centre at 42 million (2 million more than our very own Bull Ring) but Grand Central is predicting 45 million in the first year of operation!  The key will be to get the dwell time of these visitors to increase so that it’s seen as a proper destination – not just the exit route from New Street.  Maybe people will go and visit our Grand Central like I did as a tourist to Grand Central in New York!

And in exciting news – it will still be accessed by ‘the ramp at McDonalds’ (anyone from Birmingham knows that location!) and you will be able to walk all the way through to the Bull Ring through nice free flowing walkways, not random 90 degree turns like the olden days.

I should point out at this point that all of the above facts were from me paying attention to the lovely ops director who showed us around, and I have not independently verified any of them!  But his passion for the project oozed out of him (as did his excitement at having a Nando’s arriving!!)  The bringing together of a transport, retail and dining hub is incredible – and the fact that one of the (if not the?) busiest station in the UK has kept running through the regeneration is amazing.

However – having been very excited that an off peak return to New Street was only £2.80 from Kings Norton, the train home had a platform change and was delayed by 35 minutes – so let’s hope the trains standards can match that of the shopping facilities above…………

But I can’t wait to go and see Grand Central in all its glory when it opens next month.

Extra virgin?

Posted on by Libby Price

Right – so what exactly does ‘extra virgin’ mean (in the context of olive oil??)

The staff in Ask have it written on their T shirts – so the 10 year old thought it was a suitable question for the lunch table today.

My definition of ‘not messed about with’ caused much hilarity for the husband and older 2 kids……….

Review: Diet cupcakes?!?

Posted on by Libby Price

A while ago I reviewed some products that Exante diet kindly sent me to try – and since then I’ve bought some of the shakes and bars to have, particularly when I’m in a rush, or need a breakfast before working out that I’m not going to vom back up again after 10 minutes of a cardio workout!!

Anyway – the lovely guys at Exante messaged me to see if I’d like to try some of their new range of cupcakes – well, how could I refuse!

The box arrived and I excitedly opened it looking forward to trying a cupcake – and found out it was packets that you had to make up!  Initially I thought ‘what a faff’ – but I guess it does stop you just stuffing them blindly in your face when you have to think about making them – so maybe that’s a winner?!?

Anyway – whilst I must be the only person in the country (or so it feels from my Facebook timeline on a Wednesday evening) who isn’t Great British Bakeoff obsessed – my daughters are – and what’s the point in having loads of kids if you can’t make use of child labour!  (The day the eldest could make me a G&T was a very proud moment.)

So children 1 and 3 were voted cupcake makers!

Each set of packets (one for the cupcakes, one for the icing) makes 2 cupcakes – so we decided to use 3 of each so all family members could try them.  The 2 cupcakes would be a meal replacement and contain 200 calories and 16.7 grams of protein – so very similar to the shakes and bars throughout the range.

And so – the cupcake baking began:

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Cupcake 1 Cupcake 2

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They didn’t exactly rise evenly – and I have to say that I’m not sure Paul Hollywood or Mary Berry would have been that impressed with the presentation!  But surely the taste is the main thing……

And so – the other members of the Price family verdict:

12 year old ‘They work really well as a diet food, because they are so disgusting you never want to eat cupcakes ever again.’

5 year old ‘I don’t want one, they look funny, can I have an apple instead?’

Husband ‘Oh my God these are disgusting, why would anyone eat these, don’t let the children eat them.’

So not exactly universal praise…….

They do taste very synthetic – particularly the icing (it is the brightest pink I have ever seen!) – but I guess I am more used to ‘protein’ based flavours than the rest of the family.  If you were being hardcore on Exante and were really missing cakes then I guess maybe they would be ok – but they are definitely my least favourite of all of the products I’ve tried.  And the faff of making it all also massively counts against them for me.  I’ll be sticking to the shakes and bars in future.

I was sent this product to review for free, but all opinions (as you can probably tell!) are my own. 

Book Review: The Small Fortune of Dorothea Q by Sharon Maas

Posted on by Libby Price

The Small Fortune of Dorothea Q

“Thirty years of family secrets. Three generations of women. One family heirloom that could change everything. When she ran away from her childhood home in Guyana, Rika swore that she would never return. Cut off from her family, she has fought hard to make a life for herself and daughter, Inky, in London. Now, over thirty years later, Rika’s cantankerous, wheelchair-bound mother, Dorothea, arrives in London. But as old wounds re-open, Dorothea and Rika are further apart than ever. Inky soon learns that her grandmother is sitting on a small fortune. As she uncovers the secrets of the past one by one, she unravels the tragedy that tore her mother and grandmother apart. But nothing can prepare her, or Rika, for Dorothea’s final, unexpected revelation. An epic, mesmerizing tale of tragic loss, the strength of words left unspoken, and the redeeming power of love.”

This book was recommended to me by a friend and I knew nothing about it (apart from this friend and I usually enjoy the same books).  This is probably a good job, as I tend to shy away from historical novels as I think I’m not a fan!!

It is set between Guyana and London – and this immediately appealed as I have a couple of friends with Guyanese heritage, so I thought it might be interesting.  It follows the stories of Dorothea, Rika and Inky – three generations of the same family – and their growing up and coming of age, dealing with all of them at a similar time in their lives.  The chapters don’t have a strict pattern (I much prefer that then when it feels like the chapters are forced into some sort of repetitive cycle) and the stories flow in and out of the different time periods and locations.

I really enjoyed these intertwined tales of family life, and it really evoked the feeling of Guyana describing it vividly.  The love – and loss – is very moving, and kept me entertained and wanting to read more.

I will definitely look out for more books by this same author, as I thought it was beautifully written.

Think about nothing…….

Posted on by Libby Price

So today was the day I got to be a geeky guinea pig!

I arrived bright and early at the University research area ready for my exciting day. Initially that was blood pressure readings, blood samples, height, weight and body fat analysis (yep – that wasn’t the best reading, but I hoped my stats would improve as the day went on!)

Then I had to complete a questionnaire about how I felt / feel about certain things – pretty bog standard questions that you might get in a survey in Cosmopolitan magazine – although there were less (although not none!) about sex, and some were a bit weirder.  The weirdest being ‘for each of your children (and there was enough space for 4 kids, which is quite rare!) do you get on with them worse than average, average or better than average?!  Totally unsure how you benchmark such a thing against other people?!?

Then started the memory and IQ tests.  This was like some weird Krypton Factor (or The Cube if you’re under 40) / Tap the Frog / 11+ exam hybrid.  Lots involved shapes and sequences and patterns which, in places, I found REALLY HARD – but I think I made up for it by bossing the numbers and words.  Although in places that was really tricky too.  There was a list of about 20 different word pairs – some related to each other, and some not.  The researcher read them all out to me – and then went back and asked me to name the second word for each first word.  I was RUBBISH.  I couldn’t believe I was so rubbish to be honest!  But we had to repeat the thing – with the same words – four times.  Third time I got one wrong, and fourth time I got a full house – BOOM!  Lots of the tests were talking to the researcher, some were written, some involved cubes (my eldest’s pet hate when doing her non verbal reasoning for the 11+) and then some was on an electronic tablet.

This was the particular bit that felt like Tap the Frog – just without any frogs!  It was incredibly intense and lots of the tests were clearly designed to scramble your brain (I described it as a headf*ck to the researcher – and she neither confirmed nor denied that that was the technical term!!!)

After that – and a quick sandwich lunch – we were over to the old hospital campus next door for an MRI.  Whilst I’d had one of these on my knee before, I’d never actually been totally inside the tube – and people told me it was VERY claustrophobic and noisy.  I had to remove anything metal (apart from my underwired bra – apparently those are fine!), lay down on the bench, put in ear plugs and on headphones and was slowly wheeled into the tube.  I’d been warned to bring my own music as the music the university have isn’t the best – so 80s love songs it was! There were then about 6 different MRIs.  These all had slightly different noises – there was one like the photocopier was persistently jammed, one that sounded as if you were in the spin cycle of a tumble drier, one that sounded like someone was using a pneumatic drill to get into the machine, and other banging noises.  However, I still managed to fall asleep!!  After each 5 or 10 minute MRI the lady doing the scans would talk to me / wake me up.  For most of them I was allowed to close my eyes – but for one of them I was told I had to keep my eyes open and think about nothing!!

Of course, when you’re told to think about nothing you brain, which is used to juggling kids / home / work / organising charity events / planning a Florida trip for 12, immediately starts thinking of stuff.

So I tried to imagine nothing…….

  • An empty room – what colour is it?  Why is it empty?  Are there any windows?
  • An open field – what’s over the horizon?  What crop is growing?  Are there any cows?
  • A blue sky – are those clouds? Ooh, it’s like the Philadelphia advert!

Right Libby – visualising ‘nothing’ isn’t helping you think of nothing, so just focus on the inside of the MRI scanner……

  • Hmm, what’s the scuff mark?
  • Did someone with a big head scrape it on the side?
  • And why does that look like there was tape on there before that’s been pulled off and left a residue?
  • Why would you hold an MRI scanner together with tape?

Right Libby – focusing on the inside of the scanner isn’t working.  Blur your vision and don’t think of anything.

  • Hmm – why don’t I do some pelvic floor excercises rather than waste time?
  • Wonder if that will show in brain movement?

So all in all – I’m not very good at thinking about nothing!!!

It’s been a great day – I’m exhausted but really enjoyed it (I am such a geek!)  I don’t know my results (which is tricky for a control freak) but hopefully should get some feedback in the Autumn.

And if anyone in the Birmingham area would like to take part – they’re still looking for volunteers!!

Geeky guinea pig!

Posted on by Libby Price

I have to confess to being a bit* of a geek.  In fact when we were doing The Big Hoot last weekend, the kids were asked if they were taking such interest in all of the names etc because they were doing a school project – and I had to confess it was just me who was really into it!!

Recently one of the Mums in the village – who is a doctor – mentioned she was doing some research into the Neural Effects of Steroid Hormones.  This triggered an interest – mainly because a friend’s son is being treated with steroids, amongst other things, for a brain tumour, so it was kind of on my radar.  This particular study, though, is for people with a specific genetic disorder of the adrenal gland – but they need some healthy adults with which to compare results – and that’s where I come in!

I offered to be one of the guinea pigs.  I was given lots of literature and counter indications to consider, but I still was eligible.

So – next week – I will be heading off to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for 4 hours of IQ tests, 1 hour of psychological questionnaires and an hour having my brain MRI-ed (don’t think that’s really a verb – but you know what I mean).  I am a bit nervous – but more excited in a geeky kind of way!

People have asked if I’m worried about feeling claustrophobic in a MRI machine for an hour – and I’m sure it will be a weird experience – but hey, I know an amazing boy who has to be in there for double that time, so I’m sure I can channel just a little bit of him and get through it.

Obviously I will overshare about how it all goes………..

* Actually a lot, possibly one of the biggest geeks ever?!

Owl Woes – Wicked Wednesday 29th July 2015

Posted on by Libby Price

Last week the children and I started finding owls around Birmingham for the Big Hoot 2015.

Now there’s a lot of scope for Wicked Wednesdays photos from this!

We could have the one outside Cadburyworld in the pouring rain where they all look seriously unimpressed (apart from the eldest who is doing a great fake smile!!) ….

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Or the one about 3 hours in on Saturday when I was making them march between owls at pace, and they were slowly losing the will to live……

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Or an infamous youngest child strop on the steps of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, just because that’s what she does……

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I have to say there are also some fab photos in the album I’ve set up to record all of our owl spottings, and we’ve really enjoyed seeing more of our great city.

52 down, 37 to go………………

brummymummyof2

The Big Hoot for Birmingham Children’s Hospital

Posted on by Libby Price

As many of you will know, we have been helping our friends to fundraise for Birmingham Children’s Hospital for the last year – as their son is being treated there for a brain tumour. They’ve already raised in excess of £20k – but are still looking to support them even more. (Blatant request for donations as the Just Giving link is here.)

Anyway – this summer BCH (that’s what those in the know call Birmingham Children’s Hospital!) have an amazing event on in and around Birmingham – called The Big Hoot and here’s a quote from their website to give you the background.

The Big Hoot swoops into Birmingham 20 July – 27 September 2015

Presented by creative producers Wild in Art working in partnership with Birmingham Children’s Hospital, The Big Hoot has brought businesses, artists, schools and the local community together to create a public art trail of stunning owl sculptures on display across Birmingham from 20 July until 27 September.

With 89 giant owl sculptures to see – each one individually and intricately created by artists from Birmingham and beyond – this ‘owl-spotting’ experience is inspiring fun for everyone and is completely FREE.

Follow the trail from the City Centre to Sutton Coldfield; Winson Green to Bournville and many places in between and enjoy beautiful open spaces; inspiring buildings and Birmingham’s cultural heritage along the way.

All the giant owls have been sponsored by companies and organisations and at the end of the trail, they will be auctioned to raise money for Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Children and young people from Birmingham’s schools have also been busy creating over 120 owlets. These are displayed in ‘parliaments’ across the city as part of The Little Hoot education programme.

We hope you have fun discovering all the owls and now…let the ‘owl-spotting’ begin!!!

The Price family were very excited to hear about this and immediately downloaded a copy of the trail from the website (you can also get hard copies at various locations around the city).

This week we’ve started on our owl spotting quest – and are ticking off the owls as we find them (we have a copy of the trail on the kitchen wall, as well as one for when we’re out and about – we’re taking this very seriously!!)

The kids did a couple over near Thinktank earlier in the week,

The Big Hoot 1 The Big Hoot 2

and even more today…

Big Hoot 3

(They were excited, I promise, but it was just raining heavily at the time!  A trip to the Cadburyworld shop afterwards did help cheer them up!!)

I’ve set up a Facebook photo album and will update it as we add to the viewing list with the various owls and owlets – and it would seem most of my Brummie Facebook friends are also on owl spotting missions.  Lots have also been involved, through the schools that they work for, in the painting of owlets – so we’re hoping to spot those too.

Not only are these owls beautiful – it’s also a great way to get ourselves out and about around our fabulous city this summer.  If the weather could just join in and play the game a bit better that would be great!

The kids are already deciding which one they want to bid for in the auction in October!