Take the boy out of Birmingham, But can't take the Birmingham out of the boy

This is an assignment that I had to do for one of my modules called "Creative Nonfiction". I had to research into the city that I am from and write about my connection with the city. I didn't have to choose the city where I'm from, I could've done where I am currently living now. However, I wanted to do my home-city, Birmingham. Don't be offended, it's just how I feel :-).

Birmingham, Birmingham, Birmingham. Birmingham, the city where I grew up, born and raised, that is where I call home. The name Birmingham originally comes from the old English word, Beormingham, which sounds like “boringham” to me. I’ll get into that later. Beormingham means the home of settlement. The city was established during the 6^th/early 7^th century. Considering that my home city is classed as the most populous British city outside of the capital, it still seems very small coming from a resident like myself who has lived there for the majority of his life.

Birmingham suffered heavy bomb damage during World War II, entitled “Birmingham Blitz”. After the Birmingham Blitz the city was redeveloped during the 1950’s-1960’s. This included the development of tower block estates, Castle Vale was created, the Bullring was reconstructed and New Street Station was developed. Following World War II ethnic minorities grew enormously within Birmingham as it began to receive wave of immigration from the Commonwealth of Nations and beyond. Within 1951 the city’s population peaked at 1,113,000 residents.

According to the recent census (2011) Birmingham currently has 1,073,000 residents which is an increase of 96,000 over the previous decade. However, with so many residents living within my home city, why did I feel so alone and miserable whilst living there?

Birmingham is very unique within its own little way. In my personal opinion, citizens that live there are way behind in fashion; they are too stuck in their ways and are very small minded. However, as I travel and meet new people, I find that you come across people like this wherever you go. Regardless, I’m an stubborn individual; it seems more dominant in Birmingham. Speaking of travelling; when I moved to London to experience a better/new life, I realised how backwards and behind Birmingham is.

Don’t get me misunderstood,. I genuinely love my home city. However, whilst I was living there, the people and the atmosphere really dampened my spirit. Maybe it’s down to where I was living? Maybe it’s because of the people I associated myself with? Maybe it’s because I was just genuinely miserable because of personal things that have happened in my life? Maybe it’s because of my work environment? I still don’t know the answers to these questions, but what I do know is that catching the 11C bus every day seeing young mothers the same age as me hackle themselves to get on public transport with a push chair, messy weave and with the cheapest blackberry mobile phone in their hand, began to become very distressing for me after a while. 

The cheap Blackberry phone that every young mother has

There is nothing to do. This is why I call Birmingham “Boringham” because there is simply nothing to do. We have two cinemas within the city centre. Well, we have three however; nobody is checking for that Odean on New Street, it needs a MAJOR refurbishment. If you’re bored on a Saturday evening all you can do is go into the City centre and you’re bound to bump into at least 4 people you know whilst you’re out and about. The city is very small. Yes, there is a strip of clubs you can go to on Broad Street however; you’re bound to see the SAME faces there every week, and for me and my friends we will only end up in a club called Rococo, which is a HASSLE to get in when the bouncers are on their period. I am not here for it.

I’m a very open and broad minded individual. I accept a lot of people for what/who they are. I’m not saying that I don’t judge people because I am human. However, in Birmingham people are very judgemental when it comes to expressing yourself through fashion, through music, through any sort of way that isn’t the “norm”. Well, that's my view on the city anyway. 

It probably doesn’t help that I am a young black boy that doesn’t wear Adidas tracksuit’s and I don't stand outside Summerfield Park every day after school/college. Because that’s what most of them do and this will be classed as the norm to people my age that have grown up in my city. It also doesn’t help that I was probably the only black boy in my neighbourhood that was bumping music from artist’s like Robyn. I bet you, as a reader you aren't even familiar with her!

It’s very safe to say that I didn’t feel myself within my OWN city. I didn't feel comfortable being myself in my own city. Why is that?

I love my road, I love my neighbourhood. You have Bill who lives at #1. He took care of my fish, Tony, when me and my mum went on Holiday to Florida for the summer. I returned from my holiday. Sat down in his house, looked at the fish bowl. The fish in the fish bowl was not Tony. Bless Bill. He realised that I knew that wasn’t my fish and had to break the news that Tony died whilst I was away. R.I.P. Tony! You have Jane next door, she went through a mental breakdown when Ray, her husband, left her to go live with his new girlfriend that he met online, who lives in America in 2003. Ray and Jane had two cars. A LOVELY gold Jaguar car, that was my favourite, I think that car was Ray’s and a blue Mercedes Benz, which I think belongs to Jane. The latter car was ALRIGHT, but didn't compete with the Gold Jaguar. Neither less to say, Ray sold the gold Jaguar to get enough money for him to go live with his girlfriend in America. In case you’re wondering, Ray is back living next door again with his wife and hasn't replaced that lovely gold Jaguar. Don’t chase love, it will leave you broke without a gold car! Then we have Kip. Oh, I hated Kip! Kip and my dad went school together. However, Kip hated it when I used to play my music loud at REASONABLE times in the day. He called the police on me numerous of times. I am not a damn thug Kip! I was so upset with Kip. We used to get along; I used to play with his son Jaz all the time when I was small. Kip broke that bond. Shake my head Kip, look what you did. Kip moved out in 2005 I think. I guess he couldn’t take me playing Keyshia Cole all the time. Regardless, I was a happy guy when Kip moved out. Hearing him and his wife argue was gossip for me and my mother but it was also taunting. That man was RUDE!

This is the look I gave to Kip everytime I saw him.

But despite that, I was still unhappy in my own city. I felt that my city was undeveloped. Considering the research I have just done, my city still looks like it has suffered the World War II bombings. I mean, it’s not as bad as I think it is, but it could be better. I just feel like my city could do with a HUGE revamp. When I moved to a huge city like London I was so amazed at how the architecture is and even in the roughest parts of London, the city still looks 10% better than Birmingham, and even if it doesn't, London has the Underground, Birmingham will never be able to compete with that. Birmingham as a whole looks like a ghetto. This is what depressed me. I just felt like, as an individual, I wasn't going anywhere living in a city that looks like it’s not progressing. I couldn't stay in this city for long. I had to escape. Any way possible I was making a way out. Somebody cue Jennifer Hudson “I Got This”. I played that song when I was on the motorway when I moved out of Birmingham to come to London to study for Uni.

It doesn't help that the only transport to get around in Birmingham are buses and during the summer they are the LAST thing you want to be using as travel. Despite judgemental folk watching what you wear day in and day out. Sitting on a hot claustrophobic bus, with thugs smoking weed and playing music from their phones during high temperatures is not fun. I’ll tell you that now.

Birmingham is going through a vast improvement. They’re revamping New Street train station, and it is slowly catching up with London. Slowly! People aren't as judgemental as they were before. Or maybe I was paranoid? Regardless, things are improving. I do love my city for my family and the little friends I have there. I can’t forget to mention how incredibly cheap it is compared to London. However, I still feel that it needs to improve quicker than it is for me to fall in love with it. My heart is with London because of the open minded people, the transport, the social life, the clubbing life and just the fast paced environment. Did I mention that public transport stops running in Birmingham at 23:50. Mate, if you miss that last bus, you better be prepared to pick up your two feet and start walking! Or find a hole in the wall (cashpoint) to withdraw cash to pay for your taxi back home.

Maybe now, that I have travelled and experienced living in a new city, if I decide to move back to Birmingham I will love it for what it is and embrace it. It doesn't matter how much I hate my home city, you can take the boy out of Birmingham but you can’t take the Birmingham out of the boy!