Birmingham Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Birmingham Male Conversation

Conversation

If you had to ask me what my favorite meal of the day is, I’d for sure definitely say breakfast. I love breakfast, ‘cause you’ve got so many options don’t you? You can have cereal or you can have toast or you can have … Sometimes I like to have like a big, full English breakfast and you get all the fried food. You get bacon, you get sausage, you get eggs, some baked beans. And I love that ‘cause, you know, it fills you up for the day. But my wife Vera, she always tells me not to have too much ‘cause it’s not good for the heart you see. But every now and again I still have it. Don’t tell Vera that. Yeah, I love breakfast, me. I like lunch and dinner as well, but if I only had to have one constantly, I’d probably choose breakfast.

I’ll tell you a funny story actually. I was down in the park the other day, right? And I was just walking through the middle, and it was a sunny day. And I was just walking through the middle of the park, and then there’s this duck, here’s this duck crossing the path in front of me. And I said to my wife as she was walking with me in the park, I said to her, “Look look, Vera. Vera. There’s a duck in the park.” And it was … It doesn’t sound funny to you, but it was funny at the time, because it wasn’t just one duck, it was a mother duck and it had all its little babies walking behind. It must’ve been about four or five of them. And yeah, so I said to Vera, “Look, look. It’s a gang of ducks in front.” And she said, “Oh, that’s adorable.” I said, “Yeah, it’s very, very sweet.”

I’ve been watching the Godfather films recently. I think they’re bloody brilliant. I watched, funny enough right, don’t ask me why, but I started to watch the second one first, and then I watched the first one. And then I watched the third one, but I didn’t even watch it all because it wasn’t very good. Which is strange I think, because the first two were brilliant, but the third one, it’s just a waste of time really. I don’t know what they were thinking. But yeah. It just gets you thinking about life in a different way, you know. ‘Cause sometimes you think you’re very safe and you think nothing can really harm you, but then you see what these gangsters are doing, right? These gangsters made me be scared actually.

I’ve been having some swimming lessons lately. You wouldn’t believe this, right, but I’m twenty-two years old and I never learned how to swim. So I turned up, right, on a Tuesday. I think it was Tuesday, it might’ve been Wednesday. No, it was definitely Tuesday, ‘cause I remember, ‘cause I had work that day and I came after work. And I said to Pamela on the reception desk, I said, “Oh, I’m gonna go swimming today after work.” And she said, “Oh, are you?” And I said, “Yeah. Yeah, I am.” I remember that quite clearly now. Yeah, I came to ... I turned up at the swimming pool, right, and I was a bit embarrassed because I’m quite old. I’m an adult man. I’m an adult, and I don’t know how to swim, so. The instructor was actually a very, very nice lady. And she didn’t actually make me feel too embarrassed. And I learned. She gave me a float and she told me to kick out my legs. Just keep kicking out my little legs. And it was brilliant. I was like a torpedo. I was just like a torpedo gliding across the water.

I was walking through town the other day, and I had my Aston Villa shirt on. I’m a big Aston Villa fan, actually. And some guy comes up to me, he says, “Oy. Oy you. Are you a Villan?” And I said, “Yeah. Yeah, I love Aston Villa, me. I go every week.” Well, every other week, ‘cause I’ve got a home season ticket you see. And yeah he said to me, “Oy. Oy, you. You a Villan?” And I said, “Yeah. Yeah, I am.” And he said, “Me too.” And I said, “Oh. That’s fantastic news.” And so we actually ended up talking for a little while, just about the football. But yeah, lovely, lovely man.

Birmingham Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Birmingham Female Conversation

Conversation

Around Birmingham, in Dudley. It’s not an estate; a real house. Lived there all my life, same house. It’s not far. It’s just a few miles away from Birmingham. It’s around the area. That’s classed as the same, so yeah.

Where I was brought up is in the middle of Wolverhampton and Birmingham. So a bit of both. The Black Country. That’s what it’s called if you’ve ever heard of it. The Black Country. No, it’s a place where all the … what was it called? All the blacksmiths and everything used to work. Used to be a lot of factories around there. That’s why it’s called the Black Country, ‘cause of all the smoke.

Male: And Birmingham is known for the Industrial Revolution and everything.

Yeah, yeah, there’s a lot of … Have you heard of the Jewellry Quarters in Birmingham?

Male: Heard of what?

The Jewelry Quarters. It’s a very big place. I think it’s right down the road. It’s about five hundred jewellry shops, something like that. Very big place. They’re known for the crystal as well, and things like that.

Male: Tell me a little bit about moving to Cornwall, how that was.

Bit a change. Yeah, it was a lot different from around here. A lot quieter, and not so much crime. And I’ve got a baby as well, so it’s a lot better place to bring up a baby.

Male: How old’s your baby?

Seven months. Well I was supposed to get back down on Friday, but my boyfriend’s had a crash in the car. So the car, it can’t come pick me up, so I’ll have to go back down on the coach. But mom’s gonna bring the baby down for me soon. Yeah, I’ve never left her.

Birmingham Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Birmingham Male Conversation

Conversation

I’m born and bred, raised in Birmingham, yeah. Just outside the city. Newtown, I was born. Aston. I used to do floor tiling for the council. That was all the repairs in occupied properties. Parents were born in Birmingham. It’s a city like any other. It’s what you make of it. You either like it or you don’t. I’m a city-dweller, but I do like the country. I mean I bet I prefer the country, because of being a city-dweller. Well, I’m seeing somebody off. But I will be going to North Carolina myself. Going the coach to Gatwick, and then getting a plane from Gatwick South to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Male: Where else have you been?

Round the America? New Orleans. Atlanta, Myrtle Beach, Port Royal, Tennessee. Went to Dollywood. Yup. Never seen Dolly Parton though. I’d love to though.

Birmingham Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Birmingham Female Conversation

Conversation

Hi. I was born in Birmingham in England, and I have lived here all my life. I am twenty-two years old, and I have three brothers; two younger, Kyle and Aaron, and one older, John. John and Kyle have moved out now, but the youngest is still in school. My best friends are Rachel and Rose. I first met them when I began senior school at eleven, and we have been friends ever since. My friends and I have all gone to different universities now, but we all regularly meet up every few weeks.

I currently attend the University of Wolverhampton. And I am about to enter my third year of my Medical Science degree. I am also about to apply for graduate entry medical school and for certain postgraduate research courses. I have really enjoyed my time at university, and have enjoyed being able to be focused on one subject that I am passionate about. When I began university, I elected to stay at home and commute. It is about an hour and a half there and an hour and a half back from Birmingham to Wolverhampton. In spite of the commute, I have been able to get involved in a lot of different societies and different aspects of student life. And I have also become student representative for my course.

Outside of uni my hobbies include martial arts, running, cycling, and dancing. I am also a regular volunteer with Girlguiding U.K., acting as a Girlguide leader and a rainbow leader. I am also a S.T.E.M. ambassador, and regularly put on workshops for schoolchildren to have a go at a series of different science experiments. I really love interacting with children. I began volunteering with Girlguides as a form of work experience and never wanted to leave. Now my volunteering sessions have become a highlight of my week, and I recommend it to everyone I can whenever I can.

I love reading, and I will pretty much read anything that someone sticks into my nose. I like fantasy books and films. My favorite books are still the Harry Potter series, and they have been since I was about eight-years-old. Ever since falling in love with the series, I got really into books about magic and adventure. I have also written my own stories and regularly post them online. I also do a lot of artwork. I’m not great at drawing, but I enjoy photography and mixed media work and also post these online. I am also currently working to improve my artwork as a part of my goal, Duke of Edinburgh Award.

In addition to this, my expedition, volunteering, and residential sections, I am also working to improve my abilities in Aikido, the martial art I take part in. I’ve been doing Aikido since I was six-years-old, and I still love it as much as I did then. I have also made a bunch of friends at Aikido, and I am always keen to learn something new each week. I don’t like watching most sports, because I think watching sports defeats the purpose of them and they can get very dull. Sports are meant to be played, not watched. I do recognize this is an unpopular opinion though and disagree with my friends about it all the time.

A few years ago, I spent a year studying Performing Arts BTEC, where I studied varied genres of theatre and music. Even though it wasn’t what I wanted to spend my career doing, I am grateful I had the chance to study acting and singing, as I felt it has helped me become a more rounded person. And has certainly improved my self-confidence.

In the future, I’d like the travel the world, because I figure there’s so much out there I can do and see, and we only get one shot at life, and I’d like to see and do as much as I can. In particular, I would like to volunteer abroad, and learn about various different cultures.

Today I am going to be working on creating notes for my modules next year. There is an enormous amount of information I need to learn, and so I have decided to start now creating flash cards for next year’s modules. So that during term time, I only have to focus on learning the material, rather than to create learning resources as well. Next year I will be studying advanced human physiology, medical microbiology, clinical immunology and biochemistry and hematology and transfusion science.

Also today I will be taking my guides to Blackwell Adventure, where they will be doing a range of activities including ziplining, grass sledding, pedal go-karting, and orienteering. The rest of this week will be spent alternately studying and spending time on other projects. I’m hoping to spend a lot of time outside of the week, as the weather is supposed to be lovely.

Aston Birmingham Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Aston Birmingham Male Conversation

Conversation

I am currently on placement, and I’m living in Manchester for twelve months. I go to university in Nottingham; Nottingham Trent. I study real estate, so I want to be a surveyor. I’m Greek Cypriot. I’m very proud of that. I can talk Greek, I can read Greek, I can write Greek.

Male: How are you finding Manchester in comparison to Nottingham?

I think Manchester’s a great city. Of course, very big, lots to do, great infrastructure. Great events on. Really nice people. And yeah, living -

Male: What’s the clubbing scene like in Manchester in comparison to Nottingham?

I’d say much bigger here. It’s a bigger city, much classier. I think Nottingham’s a very student orientated. So yeah, I think Manchester’s good all year round.

Male: And you’re originally from Birmingham?

Yeah, originally from Birmingham.

Male: And do you prefer to be – In which city do you prefer to be the most?

Manchester at the moment. Just ‘cause there’s so much to do, and I’ve got a lot of friends here. And I’ve got my own place, so I’m enjoying that. Then I’d say Birmingham and then Nottingham.

Male: Alright. And do you have any brothers or sisters?

Yeah, I’ve got one brother, one sister. Sister’s eight years old and brother’s gonna be sixteen in December.

Male: Oh, really? Is he at college now or is he still at school?

Just finishing off at school. It’s his last year.

Male: Okay. And what do you do in your spare time? Like hobbies and …

A lot of the time I’m playing football. I like to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Weekends I go out quite a lot. Midweek I also just go out for restaurants, cinema. Just typical teenager things.

Male: And you do that with your group of friends?

Yeah, I do that with a group of friends.

Male: Can you explain them?

Yeah, sure. So you’ve got Yanmi, who I live with.

Male: And what’s he like?

Yanmi, he’s from Rotherham, which is by Sheffield, Yorkshire. Good lad, good laugh. Doesn’t annoy me too much to be fair. Gets up to his own thing. So he’s good. And you’ve got Pete Kirioku. Absolute legend. Loves himself, but an absolute great guy. And I love him to pieces. And you’ve got Phil Milona. He’s known for having big parts. Love him to pieces as well. Then you’ve got Luke Inhidimu, my cousin. He’s about five foot four. He’s quite pale-skinned, stocky, very funny. Likes to go to gym. And then you’ve got Zack, who’s five foot nine. Skinny, tall. Works at the Belfry. He is Greek as well.

Male: Belfry? What’s the Belfry?

The Belfry is … it’s globally recognized, the Belfry. It’s a golf center. Well, golf course. They play there quite a lot with the …

Male: Oh, he’s a golfer?

No, no, he’s not a golfer, he just works there, but the Belfry is like globally well known. You know the … when they do U.S.A. versus Europe golf competition. They play it there, it’s televised and stuff.

Male: Oh, that’s pretty cool.

Yeah, it’s cool. Yeah.

Male: You got anymore members to the squad or is that your little …

I’ve got Steph, of course.

Male: What is Steph like?

You could tell Steph that your house is on fire, and he’d say to you, “Don’t worry about it. You’re gonna get a new one.” There’s never a problem in Steph’s life. Never a problem in anyone’s life. Always sees the bright side. Heart of gold. Great guy.

Male: Tell us a little bit about your apartment in Manchester.

Apartment in Manchester. Yeah, really, really happy with it. Really modern. It’s a complex of new flats varying between one and three bedrooms. Kitchen area and the sitting room are linked in one. Half tile wood, half carpet-covered flooring. Got a TV there, kitchen table, cooker, oven, grill. Does the job really spotlight. So yeah, really happy with it.

Male: Okay, and is it better than your accommodation that you used to live in Nottingham?

Oh yeah, without a doubt. This one’s more accommodation for a young professional as opposed to Nottingham is a typical student house, where you don’t...

Male: Is that what you classify yourself now as, a young professional?

It’s a fact isn’t it? Yeah, Nottingham, the house that we lived in was just a stereotypical university house. Just cold, damp, dark, small. Yeah, there’s a good experience.

Male: So you are enjoying uni so far.

Yeah. I’m enjoying this year more than I’ve enjoyed the past two years of uni though.

Male: Oh, so this one’s your favorite year.

Yeah. Only because I’ve got money in my pocket. Manchester’s a much bigger city, much more to do, much more to see. I’ve got better friends here as well. So yeah, it’s figured out really nicely.

Male: Alright, alright. Some people say first year’s they’re best year, don’t you think?

In my … Well, I can see why people say that, ‘cause there’s less responsibility at university. So you can obviously get a lot … you can do a lot more and don’t have to be as reliant on university work and stuff. But I don’t know. Being from Birmingham, I think … Me and my friends used to go out a lot of the time before we actually had I.D., so I wasn’t too stunned by nightlife. I was already pretty used to it, so it was okay.

Male: And was that thing in Birmingham to go out with …

Early.

Male: Like I.D.

Yeah, I guess so. Our group of friends, we used it quite a lot of the time. Yeah, so.

Male: Molloy’s.

Molloy’s. Yeah, York is my mate, he live there.

Male: Can you explain Molloy’s for …

Molloy’s. Oh, Molloy’s is dirty. If you want to have a good time, just get smashed and run around, and act like a child, then it’s great. But if you want to go somewhere classy or something, then it’s not the place to be.

Birmingham Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Birmingham Male Conversation

Conversation

I have currently lived in Birmingham all of my life except for the last twelve months where I’ve been based in China. I am an English teacher in China. A little bit about myself. I was brought up, I was born in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. I have grow up in Bartley Green all my life, but lived over in the Black Country area called, an area called Cradley Heath. It’s just outside of Birmingham. Obviously, when I was … I have grown up in Birmingham all my life, that’s why I do not have a Black Country accent.

I’ve had the privilege of my nan and granna looking after me before and after school when I was young, because my mom and dad used to work long hours. So we went to my nan and granna’s before and after school, which was quite good. We got spoiled by my nan and granna’s.

I moved out of Birmingham August last year. I took a job as an English teacher in Tianjin, China. And so far I’m loving, I love working out here, and I’m enjoying my lifestyle. I love being a teacher, and it really does make my life very interesting. I have a better style of living. I’m happy where I am, and I also want to go traveling. Plus, obviously me being based here, I have the opportunity to immerse myself in Mandarin. I am currently learning Mandarin and enjoy learning languages. I speak conversational Spanish, and I am now focusing all my attention on Mandarin. When I finish with Mandarin, then I’ll move onto the next language, which will probably be Japanese or Cantonese, so once I’ve done with that.

Birmingham Female Conversation

Conversation

The classic stereotype, the average Brummie, who thinks that people … I’m not saying your down to earth Londoner, but the sort of the, oh goodness, the jet-setty class that have come from all over Britain to London to work. You know, the stock market fraternity and the lager and champagne swilling people, you know, in the bars. And often the stereotype is all they really are OK yar and a bit dim. But in a suave sort of way. You know, sort of designer bags and clothes and such like. And it’s quite an inverted snobbery about that group of people. So I find that whole subject fascinating.

Male: And I think it is a bigger issue in England in general.

Oh, absolutely, yes. We’ve moved away from our class system into this really. I was born in inner city Birmingham. And my parents were Brummie. And they sort of brought me up to … well, my father, I mean my mom didn’t particularly know necessarily correct terminology, but dad tried to correct me when I was talking what he called slang. So I sort of had a bit of an edge on people around me. And sort of in my own little environment. We moved to Sutton Coldfield, which is a suburb of Birmingham, when I was about eleven or twelve. But to people in inner city Birmingham, in the fifties, when I was growing, I would probably be what they’d term posh. In fact, I was called posh. My one friend called me a posh Brummie. Because I didn’t say ‘yow’ and ‘goo’ and ‘tick.’ I’d say, ‘you’, ‘go’, and ‘take.’ I’d still got that Birmingham twang but a bit of a polish to it I suppose. I mean, I assume. I’m probably talking complete drivel here.

But around me were family members, like my mum’s family, they were the real Brummies. And my uncle Tom, who was recently died a year or two back, he’d be in his nineties now, but he talked very, very peculiarly. And he’d call my mum a wench saying, “How am you are, wench?” Which is a way of saying how are you? My sister or whatever.

Male: Now would that still be considered acceptable or ....

Oh, yes, yeah. In some circles, yes, yes. It’s a whole … yeah, yeah. I mean, I wish you’d sort of popped up about fifteen years ago because we had a lovely aunt who died, Aunty Elsie. And when some relatives came to visit us from Canada, my uncle, Great Uncle Jim from Canada, he said that Auntie Elsie, he couldn’t understand a word she was saying. She might just as well be talking Swahili. And he said she’s double Dutch, because she spoke totally different. Now we could understand her, because we’d been brought up in the community where a bunch of people spoke like her. But a lot of what she was saying was completely alien to him. Totally.

I mean I live in Sutton Coldfield which is … it’s Birmingham, it’s part of Birmingham, but it’s like, let’s say, the leafy suburb of Birmingham. And back in the sixties, it’s the area to which the business people, the factory owners, etcetera, moved to the suburbs to Sutton Coldfield. And it’s sort of, I don’t know, polished the accent so much. People have aspired to this new way of life and homeownership and two cars and children go, stay on at school and go to university. And they moved out of the inner city, so they started to speak with less of an accent. But there’s still the slight accent in the background. It’s probably one of the hardest ones, Jim, because Birmingham overspills into what we call the Black Country. It was the country that Queen Victoria used to make her staff put the shutters down on the train when she drove though ... when they went through the Black Country. She didn’t want to look at it, all the smog. It was the industry, the industrial revolution. It was one of the epic centers to that. And they talk … well, they talk in a language of their own, but a lot of it is integrated into Birmingham and Birmingham into that. It’s as almost a mixture. They call people bab. “How am you, bab?” I don’t know how relevant this is to you, Jim, but there’s a really comical story that happened about three or four years ago. One of my sidelines was at the time, I was involved heavily with a charity. And one of the trustees was holding a rather big conference of scientists at a place called Netherton, at the Park Hotel in Netherton along the outskirts of Liverpool. But it’s a very, very expensive and prestigious sort of golfing hotel. Very, very suave and what have you. And it was quite an exclusive dinner was going to go on after the conference.

Well, the media got hold of the story and Netherton is an inner city sort of town or overspill village into a town in the Black Country region. And they have a language of their own there. I mean, no one, can really, except for themselves, can understand it. And I was running a helpline here. And the idea was that people would ring the helpline if they had any questions related to the conference or where what was this, that, and the other. And out of the blue on the lunch time news in Birmingham, it had been announced that there was a conference taking place and a dinner in the evening in Netherton. Of course, it had been assumed that it was Netherton in the Black Country, but in fact it was the wrong Netherton. And that people were … the journalists and the media were trying to find out the exact location and it was on the lunch time news. Well, this telephone never stopped from, and had been all morning about journalists about where is it. And then out of the blue at one o’clock lunch time, the phone rang and I answered it. And I don’t know if I can do the accent myself, but it was the landlord of a pub in Netherton in the Black Country. And he said, and I’m not very good at this, Jim, but he said, “Alright, bab. Do you know anything about some do that’s kicking off here today sometime? And some sort of a dinner tonight?”

And what had happened was journalists had just congregated and had turned up at this sort of, well, one of the journalists said it was a dodgy looking boozer next to a greasy spoon, which is a cafe. And basically they turned up and the landlord knew nothing about it, course they got the wrong location, wasn’t at all prepared. And the classic food for the Black Country is faggots and peas in a basin. And he said to me, “None of your lots been in to …” I can’t do this very well. “You better let me have the numbers, I better get some faggots and peas on the go for tonight.” And as he was talking to me, he was on the air. And the media were there. He was on the air talking to me, they got a mobile phone, and he was talking to me. And it was bellowing over the airwaves, on the TV, on the lunch time news, and they could hear me trying to explain that it was in fact in Liverpool, not Birmingham. But that’s the sort of thing that happens here. So even the Lord Mayor turned up. He thought he ought to go as there was going to be a lot of scientific delegates at this dodgy pub. And faggots and peas on the menu.

Male: And he had the best day of business of his …

Oh that was another. “I never had it so good, bab,” he said. Because they call everybody bab.

Birmingham Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Birmingham Male Conversation

Conversation

I was born in a city called Birmingham in the United Kingdom which is the second largest city after London. I was born and raised in pretty much the same square mile so I didn't really get out much until I was about 21 which was when I was in my second year of uni which is when I would say that my life truly began because I was presented with the opportunity of doing a year abroad which being a mathematics student is not something that you hear about very often in your course. So I took advantage of this opportunity.

I was actually one of three people to do so in a class of about 180. Why not many people took this opportunity I have no idea because as cliche as it sounds it does actually change your life forever. So I applied to go to Australia.

I chose to go to either a city called Brisbane or Adelaide which is a very small city which is actually where I ended up going. It's about the same size as Birmingham but as it's more spread out it takes up more area and so it feels actually a lot smaller and I would say the average population the average age of the population sorry is quite quite old so it's a very very chilled laid-back city not somewhere where you would go if you were looking for huge amounts of entertainment although I must say its nature and wildlife was incredible but I think that's how it is in Australia as a whole as opposed to a quality just unique to Adelaide. So I went there in July 2015 for an entire year met some fantastic people the problem which the problem of doing that is that you meet people from all different parts of the world so when it comes to actually leaving staying in contact with all of them without being able to physically meet them it's it's quite difficult and not to mention expensive if you want to go see them all but so far I have met up with a couple people I met some friends in Norway so I went to go visit them this year Norway is also an incredible place and it completely blew my mind you always hear fantastic things about Scandinavia and you sort of um you sort of listen but unless you when you go there that's when you truly understand what people are talking about when I say it's such a fantastic place and I also met one of my other friends in the Netherlands I've ever since I went to Australia I've become much more keen to travel so I've traveled to quite a few places since then actually so I came back in December 2016 and I since I've been to Greece been to Netherlands been to Norway and before that I also went to Canada and Jamaica as well and

Birmingham Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Birmingham Female Conversation

Conversation

So I was born in Birmingham, which has quite a strong accent, and I lived there until I was 18, so I kind of grew up there. Then I went to live in Leeds as a student and I lived an extra year there, so I think there's a bit of a mix of that there, and then I've been in London for probably 15, 20 years.

So my mum is French, she came over to get, when she got married, so she's lived here 55 years or so. My dad was English, he's not alive anymore, and he was from County Durham, the very north of England. So what else can I tell you about them? My mum's accent is really strong, it's still really strong, she's very French, and she still spends quite a lot of the year in France. She's got a huge family there, and as children we'd go there every summer and spend time with our cousins, so we're kind of brought up speaking English and French. My dad didn't have a particularly strong accent, he didn't sound that much like he was from County Durham. He was from a very working-class family, but he got like loads of scholarships and that lifted him out of a very, as I say, working-class, coal village type background. So he basically got scholarships to go to grammar school, go to Durham University, and then go to France to study, which is where he met my mum. So he was a lecturer in French and my mum worked in the university as well, so she was a sort of like teaching assistant type person in a university.

Male: And both of them were based in Birmingham?

In Birmingham. Yeah, that was in Birmingham. So my parents, when they first got married, they lived in the Potteries in the Midlands, and then moved to Birmingham, and then they lived there for like, I don't know, 30 years or something. So I've got five brothers and sisters, we're five of us in total, and I'm the youngest. I'm the only one who was born in Birmingham, so when I was growing up my mum and dad would correct my accent quite a lot, because like that's where I grew up, I do have some of that, and when I go back I definitely can hear it. So yeah, I'm sure like a lot of people around here have lived quite a few places, and you can pick up things as you go. But I did that thing online, I don't know, you probably know it, where you can kind of look at what words you use and then they say where you're from, and it did put me straight back to Birmingham, so it was pretty good.

Um yeah, so um, well I went to school in like a very sort of like ordinary primary school where all the kids, although it was very diverse, although they came from all sorts of places in the world, they did end up with quite a strong Birmingham accent, so I think my parents wanted me not to have a very strong Birmingham accent. As I say, I was the only one in the family from Birmingham, so I definitely remember as a kid like having things corrected, and then I didn't mind. And then um, like when I was at school in Birmingham, like loads of my friends had elocution lessons, because there's this thing about Birmingham accents not being particularly attractive.

There are some real giveaways, you probably know these, but one of them is money. If you say the word money, like Birmingham people just say “money,” and so that's that's one real giveaway. Saying um flat A's for everything apart from laugh, so bath, grass, laugh, apparently that's a real like Birmingham thing, like only the um “laugh” is like uh how a southern person would say an AH, like a long AH, so we, because we're from the Midlands, everything else is of grass, not grass, bath, not bath, but for some reason laugh is an exception to that, if you're from Birmingham.

Male: But then it's interesting too though, that like when you said the word man, you went a little bit towards man.

Yeah, yeah.

Male: So there is that that drift in that direction with that.

Yeah definitely, I'm just trying to think about other ones that are giveaways, but there are yeah definitely a few, um and then also there's the actual words that you use, so like in Birmingham like you'd say a “babby” for like a baby, and like all of that kind of stuff, but I never had such a strong accent that I would have like said that. But yeah it's funny, um a few years ago my um my brother uh went to the States and he was speaking in a like amateur lawyers competition, and um he I think he was speaking in French, and at the end of it this man who does a very similar job to you I think came up to him and said you're from Birmingham aren't you, because he obviously had his ear attuned to whatever the Birmingham sounds are, so.

Birmingham Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Birmingham Male Conversation

Conversation

Um, so I was originally born in Taiwan and, um, however, my mum and dad, they got, like, sort of a business trip to, um, England, to Liverpool in specific. So, um, they brought me to Liverpool. Like, I was, like, really young and they brought me to Liverpool and then they sort of just, um, left me with my aunt and uncle. So, I sort of grew up with my aunt and uncle because my mum and dad are, like, um, they've got lots of stuff to do and stuff like that. So, I grew up with my aunt and my uncle in Birmingham, in Answorth, Birmingham specifically. And, um, so I attended, um, primary school, middle school and high school in, um, in Answorth, Birmingham and then now I ended up in this, um, university in, um, in Surrey.

Um, my aunt was, um, studying abroad in England and, um, she actually met my uncle who is, like, um, a typical Brummie, you know, like, sort of, I got this accent because, like, um, I interact with my uncle a lot and he's, like, the typical Brummie. So, that's how I ended up getting this accent, by the way. And, um, so, my aunt got married to my uncle and I sort of just settled down in, um, Answorth, Birmingham.

Um, we now have free time. I do enjoy reading, though. Like, um, I'm a huge fan of, um, Tolkien's novels, um, John Ronald Tolkien. Um, funnily enough, he's been living in Birmingham as well and he found a lot of his inspiration in Birmingham. Like, um, I think, you know, there's a, like, a city in Lord of the Rings called Mordor. I think he found inspiration of Mordor from Birmingham. That's quite interesting, I think.

I, like, I'm sort of, I don't really have, like, a major yet because I'm still, like, finishing up some, like, chemistry and, um, physics stuff in, like, um, in the college, like, the classes I'm taking. Um, so, I would like to go in the direction of, um, mycology, like, the study of fungi. But because I think that, um, I'm quite passionate in that, yes. I think I would sort of find a job as, um, like, an editor or something first, like, um, before I actually, um, found, um, like, a particular direction. In Birmingham, like, not really Birmingham, you know, I think I would prefer to stay in, like, um, like, the south, not, um, yes, like, near London or something sort of close about, yes.

Um, I do occasionally go back to, um, Taiwan to visit, yes, some relatives and, yeah, and also for the food there, like, I do love Taiwanese food, you know, um, something like, um, I don't know how to describe it. It's like, um, it's sort of like, um, um, like a pork chop, but it's not a pork chop, it's like, um, like, um, it's steamed, yeah, so it's sort of, um, weird to describe it, but yeah. Um, I think I've got, like, um, quite beautiful mountains and all that in Taiwan, like, particularly in the east, like, I'm not specifically, um, familiar with the country since I don't usually stay there for long, but, like, um, I do know something about it. Yeah, I usually stay there, like, um, a week or so just to visit my family and all that.

Um, like, um, the Bull Ring is, um, like, everyone, everyone knows the Bull Ring, like, that's sort of, like, the signature place of Birmingham, signature, yes, like, it's like, um, a huge market place, sort of, but, like, it's quite advanced, I would say, and it's beautiful and all that, well designed, and, um, yeah, that's some sort of place where people usually go when they visit Birmingham, and, um, like, that, that particular place was, um, it's located in this district called, um, Digbeth, and, um, I would say outside Digbeth in Birmingham is not particularly safe, you know, like, there's a lot of crime and all that, um, bad stuff going on in Birmingham, so I would say that people have to be careful if they are to visit Birmingham and, like, um, walk on the street and all that.

I think everyone knows, like, there's this strong stereotype of, like, the Brummies, you know, like, um, I was in, uh, the States a few years ago, um, for, like, a boarding school or something, I was there for, like, one or two years for boarding school, and for a boarding school, and, um, like, funnily, people's first impression about Birmingham is Peaky Blinders, like, um, I was, like, um, who, like, I'm from England, I'm from England, I'd be like, oh, from London, I'd be like, no, I'm from Birmingham, I'd be like, Peaky Blinders, I'd be like, what's that, your first impression about Birmingham? Like, yeah, I do watch, or have watched it, and, well, I don't think it depicts the present-day Birmingham as well, as it's, like, as well, you know, like, um, I mean, the story, I think it happened, like, in a century ago or something, and funnily enough, it wasn't even filmed in Birmingham, you know, like, I think it was filmed in Yorkshire or something, and, like, the actors, they’re not Brummies, you know, like, most of them are, like, Irish or something, well, but it became the first impression of Birmingham, you know. I was actually surprised, I thought people were going to mention, like, stuff like Black Sabbath or something, but because the entire Black Sabbath is from Birmingham, you know, the band, oh, yes, and Tony Iommi and Giza Butler and all that, Bill Ward, like, um, of course, like, I think you talked about it in the Cockney teaching class as well, like, the Cockney speakers tend to always do the glottal stop, but I don't think Brummies do the glottal stops as much as the Cockneys do that, but I do think that we do it occasionally, I mean, based on my personal experience, I don't know, like, I don't know for certain, but I'm just saying, based on my personal experience.

Birmingham Female (profanity) Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Birmingham Female (profanity) Conversation

Conversation

It's very true, isn't it? Aren't we all, though? Thank you. Are you a Brummie as well? Oh, he's right. What part? Oh, you're joking. So am I. No way. Oh my God. Oh my God. Soho Road, isn't it? Oh my God. Wellington Road. All right. All right then, mate. Sorry, I haven't met anyone from Handsworth since I've been here. My accent's proper coming out now. Look. Go on then. You all like that gobsmacked, don't you? Go on then.

Male: So, I'd love to hear about where you were born and raised and your family.

I was born in Birmingham, in Dudley. Proper yam-yam. My sister lives in Wewley Castle still. And the rest of my family live in Devon now. And I've been in Liverpool since 2011. Got engaged to a Scouser. But he passed away in 2014.

Male: I’m sorry.

Then my son passed away in 2014. Same, within six months of each other. And I've just lost my other son. Five weeks ago, so... I'm having a pretty shit time at the moment. Bad time at the moment. I do apologise, yeah. So why have you not gone to Birmingham then? How can you not go to Birmingham? Go to the Bull Ring and that? I have, yeah, but not this time.

Male: Not this time.

You'll have to go, it's lovely. Yeah. All the... All the old rag markets and that aren't the same. As I remember them. Put it that way, in the 70s and that. It's all changed a lot. Which is a shame. That was Birmingham, the rag market.

Male: Mind telling me a little bit about that?

I remember going there as a child and it was just all market stalls and that, food, clothes and that. But last time I went there was about two years ago and it was just deserted, really. Coach station's moved, Digbeth. That's moved, I didn't know. I was looking for it, but I found it. But New Street station's still there, which is the heart of Birmingham, really, innit? And that's it. That's all I've got to say.

Male: Is there anything else that you really miss about Birmingham?

The community, I don't know. I miss my home. My home's Birmingham, innit? This'll never be my home. It won't. No. I like the Scousers, but I don't love them. Sorry.

Male: Is there anything you would suggest that I do when I go back to Birmingham?

Just go to the old places, you know. Go to the rag market. If you've ever been there when it was there. But you'll see it still, because the stores are still there. They have little bits there still, but Bull Ring's changed. It's all like indoor shops and that now. That used to be the Bull Ring, didn't it? The big iron bull outside. Copper bull. That's still there. Still the same one, yeah. Which I'm good to see, but yeah. That's it, really. Thank you.

Male: Well, thank you for stopping.

And I'm going to go and talk to someone now from my area.