LITTLE did I ever think I would bump into the President of the United States on the banks of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. Well I did. We exchanged pleasantries and he shook my hand as well.
It could have been any European city. The sun was shining, people - tourists and Brummies alike - were sitting around, enjoying a glorious summer's day in a city that was turned out in its Sunday best to host eight of the world's most influential leaders, their spouses, and myriad officials, from all corners of the globe.
I was on my way to collect accreditation for the G8 Summit in the National Indoor Arena where, along with 3000 other journalists from the world's media, we will be briefed and debriefed on the bilaterals, communiques, and general machinations of international politics.
President Clinton arrived to mingle unannounced. There was no warning, no advance guard to sanitise the public. All of a sudden, there he was, the most powerful political figure in the Western hemisphere, only a handshake away.
Close up, he was relaxed, handsome, at ease with himself. Though surrounded by security guards, he gave not a hint of anxiety that here he was an obvious target sauntering among God knows whom.
The punters who had left home yesterday morning to go for a pint were staggered. Not least the pensioners in the Moat House pub, with whom he drew up his chair to share a pub lunch -at least help himself to their chips.
The workmen high up on a scaffold danced a jig and gave the President a Mexican Wave. He waved back.
The Brummies on the sidewalk were delighted, any irritation at the security measures being put in place forgotten.
They have much of which to be proud. Long gone are the days when Birmingham was a gloomy industrial city, albeit a ''city of a thousand trades''.
As the street banners proclaim, the Brummies have welcomed the world to Birmingham. What the world will see is a multicultural city, modern, and dynamic.
It was the Tories who chose Birmingham to succeed Denver for the G8 summit. The Rockies are missing from the backdrop, but Birmingham certainly fits in with the Cool Britannia look. Tony Blair will not be complaining.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article