Your mission, should you choose to accept it...

It's the second day of our three-day break. Huzzah! The perfect opportunity to lounge around, kick back, chill out, and various other things that less-stressed people with wilfully interesting facial hair are telling us they do all the time.

But no. This was not to be the case.

This morning we went to Solihull. I like Solihull very much indeed. It is, in the main, a very nice place to be. But it seems to have a bit of an uneasy relationship with its much larger next-door neighbour, Birmingham. Silhillians - for that is the somewhat Tolkien-esque name given to residents of the borough - sometimes seem a little nervous at the thought of the country's second city being on their border. They get very hissy when outsiders suggest that they're from Birmingham. There is even a Facebook group called "Solihull is NOT in Birmingham". Those are their own capital letters, which I think is telling.

However, I am able to forgive Solihull this existential despair. It's nice to have aspirational neighbours. Because when given the following mission objectives by Katie this morning, I knew all was going to be well:

1. Purchase Some Irish Soda Bread;
2. Purchase Three Packs Of Blinis; and
3. Don't Fart About. You Have Only One Hour.

The staff in Tesco in Sheldon (Birmingham, but only just) looked at me like an alien yesterday when I asked about blinis. And yes, I understand the irony in looking for vaguely specialist food at a supermarket on my way back from a national food show. Anyway, when you have to explain to someone what a blini is, and he's giving you the same look your cat does when you're discussing particle physics with him, you know you're on a hide into nothing.

But there was no such problem in the Borough of Solihull this morning. The first shop knew what I was after but told me, "We don't get the Christmas stock in until next week". I never knew blinis were seasonal. Perhaps we should tell the Russians? But Marks & Spencer came to my rescue. Bless them, and all who sail in them.

The blinis (topped with smoked salmon and swordfish) are there to provide some counterpoint to the foodfest that will be my in-laws visiting us on Saturday. They want some guidance on places to visit in Barcelona. As I've never been to Barcelona, I can see this being interesting.