# Birmingham Evacuated. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 9, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783 "2005-07-09T21:29:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/1 "2005-07-09T21:29:08Z")
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4668313.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4668313.stm) ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/2 "2005-07-09T21:47:20Z")
Let’s hope it’s just a false alarm. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/3 "2005-07-09T22:46:01Z")
I recall a quote about kings and priests, but really, that is not how I feel about the current royals. Instead, I hope this is just a false alarm. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/4 "2005-07-09T23:22:36Z")
> [@Scott Plaid](#): > > I recall a quote about kings and priests, but really, that is not how I feel about the current royals. Instead, I hope this is just a false alarm. This makes no sense and is not connected to the link. I hope so much that this isn’t more of the same. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/5 "2005-07-09T23:34:59Z")
Perhaps he’s unclear on the difference between Birmingham and Buckingham? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/6 "2005-07-09T23:56:52Z")
False alarm: [http://www.west-midlands.police.uk/onlinepress/appeals.asp?id=648](http://www.west-midlands.police.uk/onlinepress/appeals.asp?id=648) ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/7 "2005-07-10T00:00:27Z")
It’s good that it was a false alarm, but you may as well get used to a little bit of flinchiness and paranoia. After 9/11, there were endless rumors that arabs were staying in a hotel near and asking questions about our local nuclear power plant, and I live in the boonies of northern michigan. 😕 Again, I’m really glad that it was a falsie. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/8 "2005-07-10T00:16:55Z")
So happy it was a false alarm. I’m surprised there haven’t been more of them. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/9 "2005-07-10T01:17:58Z")
> [@C3](#): > > Perhaps he’s unclear on the difference between Birmingham and Buckingham? 🙂 That sounds like a reasonable speculation. Should any of us enlighten him? ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/10 "2005-07-10T01:41:46Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > That sounds like a reasonable speculation. Should any of us enlighten him? Why bother? He’ll just insist that you’re wrong, and then tell you that _you lose._ ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/11 "2005-07-10T02:44:26Z")
I thing **Lobsang** meant to write Buckingham but wrote Birmingham due to a slip of the keyboard. I mean, how could he not know which is which? He’s British. ---
**Author:** ![EleventyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@EleventyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EleventyOne)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/12 "2005-07-10T02:54:04Z")
Except…it WAS Birmingham that was evacuated. Not Buckingham. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/13 "2005-07-10T04:09:21Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > I thing **Lobsang** meant to write Buckingham but wrote Birmingham due to a slip of the keyboard. I mean, how could he not know which is which? He’s British. By “he,” I meant **Scott Plaid**. It was Birmingham that had the false alarm, but Scott Plaid started going on about the royals. This Year’s Model and Uvula Donor were also referring to Scott Plaid, not Lobsang. I should have quoted him (Scott Plaid) intially - sorry to cause confusion. Hmmm. If Scott Plaid does vanity searches, I’m pretty sure he’ll see this! ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/14 "2005-07-10T05:00:17Z")
Cripes! You know, I completely panicked when I saw that thread title. _starts to breathe again_ ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/15 "2005-07-10T05:08:57Z")
> [@Angua](#): > > Cripes! You know, I completely panicked when I saw that thread title. You mean you didn’t already know something was amiss? Sorry if I really did make you panic. I probably should have added ‘city center’ to the title. But at the time I thought it was pretty dramatic to evacuate a whole center of a city. The BBC link wasn’t very specific if I remember (the linked article has now changed) the provided by **Muffin** plays it down to only a few streets being affected, and the suspect packages being false alarms. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/16 "2005-07-10T05:39:01Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > You mean you didn’t already know something was amiss? No. I’m in India at the moment on an observing run. The first I knew was when I saw the thread title. And since the internet connection here, whilst fairly reliable, is rather slow, I had a heart stopping few minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/17 "2005-07-10T11:44:04Z")
I thought it was in relation to Birmingham, Alabama, what with hurricane Denis bearing down on (possibly) Mobile, and all. ---
**Author:** ![klintypooh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3da27b/32.png) [@klintypooh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/klintypooh)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/18 "2005-07-10T12:50:52Z")
Yup, bastards ruined my night out by closing off the city centre. When I say ruin, I mean I had to go home at 2am. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/19 "2005-07-10T12:56:32Z")
It also meant that someone, I don’t know who, the phone said number withheld, woke me up at 5am IST, to check if I was OK, as they didn’t know I was out of the country. ---
**Author:** ![Kitchen\_Wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kitchen\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitchen_Wench)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783/20 "2005-07-10T15:38:16Z")
> [@Angua](#): > > It also meant that someone, I don’t know who, the phone said number withheld, woke me up at 5am IST, to check if I was OK, as they didn’t know I was out of the country. Well it wasn’t _me_, **Angua** … But when I saw the thread title, I immdiately thought of you. I’m glad you’re in India. And I’m glad it was a false alarm. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birmingham-evacuated/311783.md?page=2)