Hamish confounded expectations by announcing that the two-hour walk would be entirely within the confines of a 150m concrete 'plateau’ behind the old Curzon Station.

During its city centre phase, the river Rea is essentially a storm drain, culverted off underground as the river is no longer much use to industry. When it rains, the flow rate is monumental—check it after heavy rain at MAC or on Floodgate Street when this sickly trickle is very healthy.

There are plenty of things in the city to look for and celebrate. Important things. Let’s find them and talk about them. Let’s brag about them!

We walked through narrow, bin-lined passages and heard tales of generosity before gathering atop the Queensway.

Proudly designed for the efficiency of the car, Birmingham’s Concrete Collar ring road was 1971’s ‘Torque of the Town’.

Something I realised a while back formed the basis of this walk: the myth that ‘they’ knocked down all the beautiful old buildings in Birmingham and replaced them with concrete. The reality is that the Victorians tore down Georgian Birmingham and that much of Victorian Birmingham is still there. It is the Brutalist concrete city has largely disappeared.

Usha says she is always struck by the quick shift from nervous anticipation to joyous curiosity she sees in people when she holds these events, and how it affects them long after the event has finished.

We noticed the change in temperature as we walked in and out of the shadows; became aware of the smell of the chlorinated water; felt the hum of the ventilation systems; listened to the sculptures and gently inched up and down steps.

‘Grotesques greeted us, crawling down the walls of the insurance company next to the Caffe Nero. The architects would have designed this, possibly as a bit of fun, preferring the world of monsters and gargoyles rather than simple foliage’.

We discovered that the Royal George venue in fact had a previous life as the Coutts Music Hall, which had a reputation as one of the rougher music halls; indeed, the senior manager had been murdered on stage during a performance.

Mark’s spent a lot of time on the trail of the BBC drama Hustle and the many locations around Birmingham that were used as stunt doubles for the capital city.

The Big Brum Love tour will do what it says on the tin: a massive celebration of love for all things taking place in the city centre from 1pm on Saturday March 31st.