2nd July 2005 – In Search of James

Utter madness last night as we tried to find a campsite to stay in. We drove up to Nuneaton but couldn’t find the one listed, and then headed back to Warwick. I tried for the place we stayed the night before but they were full. I phoned to another and they said it was fine. We found the road and the sign post for the farm. Except it wasn’t a campsite. After faffin around for at least 30-minutes, Nav found that the sign said ‘Next left’. The bloody annoying thing was that we had turned around in a small drive just prior to that turn because we originally missed that sign on the first run. Unbelievable. We set up camp in the dark – it was 11pm or so – Nav doing the dinner. Except he manage to spill practically all the Meths on his jeans, so instead squirted some of his lighter fluid into the little fuel pot. It did the job albeit giving the cooking pot a nice coat of soot.

The day was dedicated to visiting James, a university friend from the Southampton days. We found our way up to Nuneaton and slightly further north to small town where James has his own house (well, not yet completely). He gave us instructions yet we still, and with great ease, managed to get lost. Twice (I phoned him after telling him where we were and after we turned around in a side street, manage to go down a completely different road).

We found the designated landmark (a local Co-op) and waited for James to pick us up. And that he did, still driving his Aston Maxi and still loving it. Also, he still has his spiky hair although now in techni-colour blue and blonde. He was well and seemed his perky self, still at Rare (the games company) but now having moved out from his previous apartment which he shared with others from Rare. His house was in a nice quiet suburban area, his house the last on a terrace of four or five. It was a lovely and neat house, both in- and outside. And with being on the corner, he had the added bonus of having a good sized back garden.

We met his lovely girlfriend, Ali, who usually visits James on the weekend as she works in the Bristol area. And also their two pet rabbits, Bernard and Baldrick I think, (I forget). Large, plump rabbits… dribble...

We had a light lunch in the back garden (pizza, not the rabbits). Originally, James had the idea of us seeing Bosworth Castle but instead we had a good ol’ chit-chat about past, present and future and a good laugh about things in general. I think we stayed for 4-hours or so as it was coming up to 5:30pm, and Nav and I decided that we should head off for Derby so that we didn’t have to drive in the morning. So we said our goodbyes to Ali and James drove us back to Nav’s car. We said our goodbyes to James, and we ourselves drove north up to Derbyshire. We found a campsite without trouble, high up on some Derbyshire hills, a few miles south-east of the Peak District National Park. In fact, you could actually see the National Park from the campsite and it looked great – however, we hadn’t nor would have the time to explore them but that’s now been put on my list of places to visit the next time I want to travel England.

Nav remind us that it would be our final night of camping out and that it would feel pretty odd to be able to sleep in a bed again. I agreed although I would be very welcome to try and get used to sleeping in a bed again…

-- steven