Birmingham | Athletes arriving for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham may have been expecting to get some of that scorching, scalding summer the world has been reading about. But this is the English Midlands.

It was drizzly and the temperature barely cracked 20 degrees as journalists were shown around one of the three athletes’ villages on Thursday, just a day or two before competitors from 72 countries and territories start arriving for the Games, which start on July 28.