Ghost town

We were in Birmingham this weekend, for a wedding.

I was rather dreading our arrival there on Saturday: we were staying in the middle of town, and in the middle of the middle - at the Malmaison in the Malibox. Last Saturday before Christmas, it had to be hell. Would we even get in to the car park?

But Birmingham was dead. We drove in to the car park which was almost empty. Then we wandered out round shops such as Harvey Nichols, which you'd expect to be the most crowded of all as people seek to buy presents. But it, too, was empty. Everywhere was empty. It was more like a quiet village than a city.

London may be heaving, with shops packed and the idea of recession forgotten (or rather, perhaps, put on hold). But if Birmingham on Saturday is anything to go by, London is a case apart.