Greetings from Austria

It was like returning to see an old friend entering the Austrian village of Westendorf again.

Blues stayed here last year, such were the facilities and quiet to Alex McLeish's liking, and the Birmingham Mail shadowed the tourists.

Set on a plateau in the Brixental valley 800m up, it's a well-known ski resort in winter popular with Brits.

There's not much to it other than a main drag around which hotels and pensions are dotted.

The many wooden buildings are typically Tirolean in style and finely crafted.

Blues train at the local football club's pitch, set in a spectacular location, where all it takes is a Savo Milosevic miscue to send the ball tumbling down a sheer drop into a river basin behind one of the goals.

I guess when you do see an old friend again, there are usually some subtle changes you can identify.

Disturbingly, it seemed that The Village Pub, a popular watering hole - visited only in the interests of investigative journalism and research in 2008, of course - has been shut.

And the Alpenrosenfest, an all day and night music, dancing and beer festival which sees the streets closed off to all but hundreds of revellers, had been held 24 hours earlier, albeit it was cancelled due to torrential rain.

The timing was right last year, it coincided with Blues tour (and joint first team coach Andy Watson's lederhosen had to be seen to be believed - and I kid you not!) but that's what happens when you win promotion to the Premier League and you plan your schedule on later dates.

The team arrived late last night, via transfer from Munich, a few hours after the Birmingham Mail's award-winning (as he likes to be known) photographer Tim Easthope.

Tim was on duty with Albion in Slovenia last week, taking pictures of the likes of Roberto di Matteo, Jonathan Greening, Jonas Olsson and . . . . Ziva Vadnov, a Miss World contestant, who just happened to be staying at the Baggies hotel.

I'm not sure what he's expecting this next week as the majority of the guests in Westendorf are eldery Austrians or Germans, the men resplendent in long biege shorts, white socks and sandals. I'm sure you get the picture.

Tim picked up a hire car at Graz airport and drove five hours west into the Alpine region. Thirsty work, he complained in a call on his mobile on the way, especially as temepatures in Slovenia had been a constant 30 degrees celsius.

I told him I'd meet him the Village Pub and buy him a drink . . .