My colleague David Walker had been working in both
Birmingham and Paris. He spends a lot of his life at airports.
‘Paris is so elegant,’ he told me, ‘but the people – so
rude.’
‘How about Birmingham?’ I asked him.
‘Well, it’s completely the opposite,’ he said. ‘The Brummies
‒ so warm and
friendly. A delight. But the place itself – nothing to write home about.’
‘Here’s an idea,’ I proposed: ‘What if we were to switch the
populations over?’
‘Oh, God no. Those Brummies in Paris? They’d immediately
start double-glazing everything and building conservatory extensions.’

