Russell Davies

day eleven - nothing really

hmm. no real achievement. met some people for coffee and lunch, had an apg committee meeting. early night. got a laptop from work so I could write a presentation for this thing I'm speaking at tomorrow in Denmark.

Must try harder.

day ten - unpacking

A day spent unpacking stuff at the cottage, not a huge amount of fun, but honest labour. Arthur created an installation in his bedroom.

The best bit was finding our cruiser bikes. We bought these just before we discovered we were leaving the States so they've been in storage for years and we've never really ridden them. Since they were designed to cruise to the beach and back (no gears, no brakes) I'm not sure they'll get a lot of use in the peak district either.

We called in at a pub in Shardlow on the way back to London. Discovered this ancient set of skittles in the beer garden. Enormous amount of fun. Arthur did a very convincing imperonation of a Soviet weightlifter while bowling.

Then, scampi and chips while Arthur practised his expressions.

day nine - bit bitty

A bitty day, waiting for Anne and Arthur to get back from Cheshire. Good start though - a great bacon sandwich at a layby snack place. Between Ashbourne and Buxton. If I was a photographer, and I had a few spare months, this would be my first project. Photographing the layby snack joints of Britain. They're such interesting places. They always look odd. They always have stories to tell, you don't set up one of those places unless you have some kind of story.

Then went to Scriveners, which is a fantastic bookshop in Buxton.

Then to Hartington farmer's market for another bacon sandwich.

This is what an English summer is all about. Parking in fields. Car boot sales. Bouncy castles. Listening to recordings of brass bands over tannoys. Trestle tables.

Then I met Anne and Arthur at Breadsall Priory which is a hotel/golf club place. Once a magnificent country house, now owned by Marriott. It's strange. The best thing is this pond. It's very flat and it's surrounded by shards of very flat ornamental stones so it's absolutely perfect for skimming. I got up to about 13 skims. Honest.

day eight - more walking and some chips

I used to go to the Acropolis a lot when I lived in Derby. I'd hang out drink coffee out of those brown glass coffee cups. I was looking forward to sticking it into eggbaconchipsandbeans, but it's gone strangely downhill. Sort of updated. Sort of cheapified. And the final straw - not real bottles of sauce- just little sachets. So I had to reject it.

Then went for another great walk. Drove up to Edale and walked around Mam Tor and Lose Hill. Lots of hills and achey kness. But worth it.

Highlight, was a great chip shop in Buxton. Very nice fish and chips.

day seven - dovedale and the tissington trail

Anne and Arthur went off to Anne's mum, so I was left to tramp for 15 miles around Dovedale and down the Tissington Trail. I know it's a tourist-ridden cliche but it's definitely the loveliest bit of the country.

Nice to get away from civilisation.

The essential mid-walk pasty.

day six - bit wasted

We drove up to the Peak District today. We've rented a house up there - to compensate for the slightly tiny London flat. So we had to go up to do the inventory with a very jolly inventory bloke. About the best bit of the day was the services on the M1. The roadchef outside Northampton. My favourite bit was this sign for voting on the quality of the loos. What an excellent idea.

I've wanted to compile a list of things which are better than they used to be. To combat miserable Englishness. Motorway services are one of them. Yes, I know there was a sixties moment when services were the white heat of catering, but for as long as I remember them they've been insulting and rubbish. And now they're starting to be good. Not charming or soul-enhancing or anything but just decent efficient retail/eating experiences.

And there's actually decent coffee. That's a breakthrough.

day five - slightly worky

Grey day in London. Early start, bike ride to the Metropolitan for eggbaconchipsandbeans. Lovely.

Sat and wrote a little article for zembla. I'm very late. Hope they like it.

Off for lunch at the New Piccadilly with Steve Bowbrick. What a top bloke. I've never known him very well, never really worked together. But we've orbited the same planets and he's always struck me as a smart and personable chap. And he has an entrepeneurialism (sp?) that I really admire. He's just always doing stuff.

Back home to finish the zembla thing and pick up Arthur before ambushing Anne with water pistols.

Then spent a long time packing the car - we're off to the Peak District for a few days tomorrow. Early start.

day four - grey day

Lots of driving today. Went up to visit the History of Advertising Trust near Norwich. One of those flat, grey East Anglian days, good for driving. HAT is a marvelous institution, a bunch of people beavering away preserving all this ephemera. Long shelves with thousands of huge, black guard books from places like O&M and JWT and dozens of defunct agenices you've never heard of. Well worth a visit if you're ever in the middle of East Anglia.

Then, since it was on the way back, I called in to Cambridge, to 'visit some of my old haunts'. But I immediately remembered why I hated the place so much. Especially this dump. One of the richest educational establishments in the world and they spend their whole time sending me DM asking for more money. The worst three years of my life. An awful institution in an awful place moulding the rich and the posh into a ruling elite. Bought a sandwich and got the hell out.

But then, hurrah, went to the Imperial War museum at Duxford. Where the grey, fenny weather made perfect sense. Perfect light for wallowing in fake nostalgia for The Battle Of Britain. Most of the movie was filmed at Duxford so it always seems slightly familiar. Apparently they blew up half a hanger for the film - doing more damage than the Luftwaffe ever did. But it was the movie that rekindled public interest in The Battle Of Britain and got the rest of the hangers listed. I'm barely old enough to remember the film coming out, and my dad barely remembers WWII; yet it can sometimes seem really 'present'. Especially at places like Duxford.

Interesting how it gets people so involved. I was watching a Time Team - D-Day thing yesterday and Tony Robinson kept referring to 'our boys', which I'm sure he doesn't do about the British troops in Iraq. Hmm.

The American bit of the museum is a brilliant building.

Home in time to watch England play slightly rubbishly against the Japanese; who were splendid.

day three - slightly let down by vegetables

8am - bike ride, ellie's cafe, brondesbury

9am - arthur's birthday presents, then back on the bikes

11am - Inn The Park, St James's park

3pm - Waterloo Sunset at the Hayward, South Bank

This fantastic. An installation/gallery/patio that does exactly what it's supposed to. It's visually strange and intriguing, so you can play with it for a few minutes, then you can look at the views, then you can have your coffee and watch cartoons. What else do you want from art? I watched a short film about the artist, Dan Graham, Anne watched Top Cat and Arthur watched The Powerpuff Girls. I'm an idiot.

4pm - Viennese Vegetable Orchestra.

This was supposed to be the highlight. I was very excited. But, I must admit, it wasn't as good as I was expecting. It reminded me of an end of term concert at a music college, a good joke, but it doesn't stretch to an hour. Maybe it's because they were operating in a second language, but they all seemed much too pleased with their gags. And their musicianship.

day two - a grand day out

Ended up being another prolonged day out, West London this time, of which I'm normally suspicious, but it worked out OK.

First stop was the London Wetland Centre. The staff were a little wary of Arthur's mighty yellow sword but he didn't really trouble the wildlife. There were a lot of khaki and green multi-pocketed waistcoats on parade, of which I'm a big fan. It's an impressive place, so close to the centre of town, but it's a bit more geared to the needs of birds and their watchers than 3-year olds with yellow swords. Which is fair enough.

Then, a quick nap in the car, while we drove up the A4 to Syon Park.

Syon Park's rather nice, but the winning feature is the miniature steam railway. When your parents have been escorting you on a slightly worthy day out you can't ask for better compensation than a miniature steam railway.

Then we thought we'd do our bit to champion healthy eating and headed to Ed's Easy Diner on the King's Road for an early tea. There you go Ms Morris, your policies are working.

Another excellent day. Am starting to worry though, is this blogging as a substitute for parenting?