Yes, the inaugural walking interview has been conducted!  Hooray!! 

The sun was shining, it was dry and not too windy or cold.  This isn't just the British obsession with the weather, it may turn out to be significant in getting people to walk and talk with us - stay tuned for the final verdict in a couple of months time....

The talking bit was really interesting.  This is why I wanted to join this project - to find out people's stories and histories.  What this building used to be, why it is special to someone, what happened here.  My mind is still putting together the stories and places.

Then, an unexpected thing happened (although that says more about me separating work and personal lives) - we stopped to talk to someone else.  An old photograph had been promised, as my interviewee had links with the building now occupied by someone else.  It was a really interesting few minutes for all of us, plus it demonstrates perfectly the community that some say doesn't exist in Eastside.  No community?  Well, I saw some today!

In fact two unexpected things happened - the other was the photographs that I was given.  We have permission to use them in our project so I expect they will appear hereabouts before long (but that's technical, so I'm not doing it!).  Those photos, plus the links with our photographer friend, Dan, and the archives at Birmingham Central Library look really promising for this project being an important local record.

One complaint, though - the bag with the equipment in is really heavy!  I hope our project has a budget for massage or physiotherapy....  On the other hand, I really didn't notice it when we were actually doing the walking and talking - testament to how interesting it was.

Finally, are walking interviews worth doing?  On the evidence of one interview - yes!  I think that we followed a route that had been thought out beforehand, but still there was an occasion when we looked at a building "while we are here", so we did see things that were prompted by our being out and about.

Sadly, tomorrow's interview has been cancelled for now because of illness, but if anyone reading this thinks it looks like fun - it is!  Get in touch, we still need people to talk to us.

Now, Phil's got all the techno-stuff to play with, so time for coffee. 

Where's that footstool gone?