Dreamscape blogs on a tourist’s first-time perceptions of Manchester vs. Birmingham…

“On average during my trip a place has one day to impress me, after that I’d be off to another location. Manchester failed to do anything but make me dislike the city. […] Manchester has this ‘dirty, mean, rude, industrial age sports-hooligans city’ theme going there. Unfortunately I’m not much a fan of that vibe, so simply put I ditched the place and went to Birmingham instead.”

” …the extremely casual atmosphere of the people as during work lunch break all the business men and women sat and relaxed in the [Birmingham Cathedral] church yard, some leaning back casually against old tombstones as they talked with friends and ate their lunch. During my travels I found that for the most part the churches tended to be either ultra touristy or quiet, conservative places. Graveyards dedicated to the occasional sightseers and tourists as well as the down-on-their-luck type looking for a quiet place to relax and sleep as well as wandering herds of goth kids. Other than that, deserted. Not so with Birmingham where, in the economic areas anyway, they were treated with a sort of park atmosphere.”

Yes, that all sounds about right. Although if he went at certain times of the week he’d find .alt kids gathering around the Cathedral. I’ve seen as many as about 200 at one time. And a few low-threat alcoholics/weed-smokers/dossers are often there too, towards evening-time.