2012 in review

As another year draws to a close, minds inevitably turn backwards to cast a critical glance over the successes, highlights and happenings of the preceding 12 months. It's also, of course, an opportunity to identify those things that remain on the 'to do' list.

For me, blogging was stuck obstinately on the 'to do', rather than the 'done' list, so here's a quick catch up of 2012, to bring my adventures back in Britain up-to-date.

Monasterio de piedra
(Zaragoza, Spain)

January - the year opens in Zaragoza with a bicycle ride and a visit to magical cascadas (waterfalls)

February - snow fell and out came the black and white film to capture Birmingham's spellbinding industrial past

March - David Hockney takes me back to Saltaire and reminds me of the perennial beauty of the English countryside

April - spring blossomed and Birmingham burst into bloom

May - Brunel's mighty feats of engineering made themselves felt in marvellous Bristol

June - the heat of summer in blazing Spain 

Meet the parents at
Lincoln Cathedral

July - graduation time, family time and another dislocated knee!

August - a welcome return to the Jewellery Quarter

September - getting back on the horse (or learning to drive again)

October - turning 30 in Paris

November - a return to the eternal city

December - Birmingham is at its most magical at Christmas-time

Birmingham: I love you best at Christmas

I love Birmingham. The city has been my home for 11 years now (minus a brief sojourn in 2010/11) and, though I say this quietly, has to be one of the UK's most under-rated places. Or perhaps it's just a well-kept secret.

Birmingham has some wonderful architecture, fantastic museums and great places to go. It also has a brilliant atmosphere. But it really comes into its own at Christmas-time.

Birmingham Town Hall looking festive

Come November, Victoria Square and New Street begin to get taken over. Wooden huts begin to appear, and evening strolls are spent dodging cranes that are lifting lights into place.

Then, before you know it, the city is swarming with people wrapped up tightly against the cold, clutching huge flagons of beer, negotiating the crowds while attempting to eat grilled sausages, chocolate-covered waffles or giant pretzels, or huddling together over a paper cup of hot mulled cider/wine/Pimms/apple juice.

I'm talking, of course, of the Frankfurt Christmas Market. By happy coincidence, the market has also been in Birmingham for 11 years, and is one of the country's most popular outdoor Christmas markets.

I love it because of the truly happy atmosphere the market brings, as if Birmingham has become a kind of magical wonderland for the season, full of twinkling lights, delicious smells and goodwill.

Elsewhere, you can hear angelic voices coming from St Philip's cathedral, and marvel at the giant bauble-shaped lights (or as I like to think of them, Strictly Come Dancing-esque glitterballs!)

Excuse me while I practise the tango

So if you've never been to Birmingham for Christmas, make sure you put it in your diary now. And I can definitely recommend the winter Pimms. Just don't tell everyone...

Birmingham's Frankfurt Christmas Market runs from around mid-November to Christmas Eve, and is open every day from 10am until 9pm. You'll find it in Victoria Square, Chamberlain Square, Centenary Square and New Street, all very central.