Birmingham; Saturday, 18 December, 2010

I’d left myself over two hours to get from home to Euston (a journey that should take less than 30 minutes), but based on previous experiences, and with the weather, I thought it would probably be best to leave some extra time. In the end I had to find inventive ways of wasting time, and managed to swallow up a good half hour by getting the bus between Victoria and Euston, taking in the whole length on Oxford Street on the last Saturday before Christmas. Unfortunately, the weather had kept the shoppers away and I still ended up at Euston with nearly 90 minutes to spare before my train was due to leave.

The train left on time and, ignoring the horrific crashing noises as ice fell from the train and smashed underneath the wheels, had an uneventful if slightly delayed journey (it’s a bit difficult to go top speed into a snowstorm!)

I was going to catch a taxi from New Street round to the hotel, but on emerging from the station I realised that was probably a bad idea. The roads were gridlocked and the queue for taxis was at least 30 people deep, so instead I walked round to the hotel. It took longer than it should have done as its quite exhausting dragging a heavy suitcase through thick snow.

I checked into the hotel, dropped off my stuff and headed back out into the fading light of the late afternoon to take in the Frankfurt Market.

I had a very long wander round, stopping off at several of the stalls to sample the bratwurst, and am happy to confirm they are as good as the ones you get in Germany (the fact it was a German serving might have had something to do with it!)

After the long wander I headed back to the hotel to defrost and for an early night.