Weekend with Kellie

This weekend Kellie, my Australian friend, came to England and I convinced her to stay with me in Birmingham. I am a big fan of Birmingham, and wanted to show her that it is really nice, and that the reputation it has is unfair and has no basis.

I first met Kellie when I was in Thailand with my then-girlfriend Tara, the August before last, and she was there with her then-boyfriend Clint. We were sat on the same table in a bar and bonded over drinking vodka out of buckets and Jägerbombs. We had three amazing (drunk) nights together before departing, not to see each other again for a long time!

Much has changed with both of us since. We both have split up with the people we were with at the time, both got in a serious relationship after, and both had hard break-ups from that recently... and ultimately both needed cheering up.

I met her on the Friday evening, and we went for a quick drink with Tara. We then went out for a meal, for my friends birthday and then on to Birmingham's biggest club, Gatecrasher. We spent most of the night talking about different things, getting moved away from corridors by the bouncers. We went home, but didn't get to sleep till much later after staying up for ages talking.

On Saturday we drove to Stratford-upon-Avon (where Shakespeare was born), which is a nice, fairly quiet little town. We got a rowing boat and I showed off my amazing rowing skills, which ended up with us nearly flat down trying to avoid low branches as I accidentally rowed under a tree. We had fish and chips, wandered around the town and then went home. We were both quite tired after the night before, so we watched a couple of films and went to sleep.

On Sunday, Kellie wanted to go to Stonehenge. I was a bit reluctant, as I had recently been, but decided it could be fun, and something she should see. I listened to the audio tape this time so it was a bit more educational (though very cold, something Kellie, who is used to much higher temperatures, felt a lot more than me).

After Stonehenge we drove to the picturesque city of Bath. Kellie was overwhelmed with the view over it as we drove in. We stopped for coffee and then drove back (I have continently forgot to write that I took a wrong turn walking back to the car, making us unnecessarily walk for ages).

As it was a bank holiday, the bars were pretty busy on Sunday still so we went to Brindley Place and The Mailbox along the canal in Birmingham for a couple of drinks, and then went home and slept.

I was quite sad on Monday afternoon to take her back to the train station, as it could be ages before we see each other again, though she was probably quite thankful to get a break from my constant innuendos. Its rare you meet someone that you feel you have such a good connection with but she is potentially travelling for the next two years so hopefully I will see her again.