The debonair Basil Marigold's

I would take today as a treat, as such, but it had been a fair few years since I have visited, Waterstones, in Nottingham. It was a place I often used to frequent/haunt in my younger days when I arrived in Nottinghamshire. It was a store I kind of just loved being in, for the sake of being in a building that had 4 storeys packed full of books. Over time and in changing circumstances, I have not visited Waterstones, or been out and bought a brand new, fresh of the presses book, either. The odd, second hand classic here and there, but not even remotely close to my pre-marriage book obsession I have carried over a lifetime. I don't say this is a good or a bad thing, it's just a statement. I have over the last few months started using my ipad, both with the apple ibooks and the kindle app, to read the odd electronic book, here and there. A little like a child dipping their toe into the water. I am sure that it will grow on me the more I get used to it. Maybe a Kindle will help!

The more we camp, the more, my wife and I get to grips with the campsites largest tent. We must now be down to 30minutes or less putting it up and being able to shelter into it. Fortunately the weather so great that you weren't desperate to get it up before the rain and wind made it near impossible. We were then fortunate indeed that we were able to pack into the car a collection of clowns with which to furnish the tent, and example here;

Blimey I missed my bed, after just one night I felt so much better. The fact that my hips hurt so much that it woke me up in the middle of the night, was never a good sign to me, but last night was great and refreshing.

The one true surprise is that I forgot just how isolated and dark the lake district can be. The benefit of his is at 1am on the way for the obligatory night time wee. A brief glance sky wards revealed such a glorious host of stars. The firmament was indeed full of stars as Dave Bowman would say. Such an impressive, awe inspiring view putting the world and our individual insignificance into perspective. But it was such a wonderful site, nature truly provides the most amazing views. The sight of so many stars when in the middle of the town I live in makes me realise just how poor and corrupted by the light pollution my world is and perhaps just once laying in a desert, 1000's of miles from any city, how amazing must that be. Which, in a round about way ties in with my dream of visiting Mongolia and the Gobi desert, where star gazing must be great, hint, hint.....Travel fairy.

Of all the things I have gripes with during holidays has become more apparent now that I've become a parent is the premiumbhjmk charged on entry to events ad places of interest. Once you start factoring in children the cost really does start to rise.  It can be most frustrating how the age ranges change, some places have free for under fives, free for under 2's, some have no concession. All I know is that money seems to flow quickly from the wallet when you have children, the more children you have the worse it becomes.And it isn't the children's fault. They just want to have a good time, it's the shopkeepers and the attraction owners that cynically exploit this. Damn this capitalist world.

But there is much to say for still being in this exquisitely manicured bubble. Here is a place were, when camping you sleep to mother natures whims, not to whenever you choose to turn the light off and stop. we would be less productive without electricity powering our existence. It started with the romans, who believed that cagey mother nature through building bridges and aqueducts made them gods themselves, little has changed philosophical, just that the technology has improved. Yet for all the technology we still have our Vesuvius moments when the world, harshly treated and abused by us, repays that tenfold and with interest, mocking our claims of advancement by knocking down our achievements easily and without breaking sweat. So here camp in a field exposed to the elements and all that stands between us is a thin sheet of waterproof fabric, microscopically thick. But it's still fun and a little bit harde than normal, which can add to the fun. We have been blessed with great

There is something quite wonderful about camping, once you've set everything up and can sit down in your fabric tent and then survey the world around you. Fortunately we have had a pre arranged trip to a place called Cartmel, located within the world famous, lake district, one of the UK's most picturesque areas. I have only ever been here once before, for our honeymoon, four years ago, to Ambleside, which is fairly central to the lakes. This time, we are in the south of the lakes, away from the really, really touristy parts. There is a splendid sense of isolation here, the village has no recognisable pavements for pedestrians to use. The village is still a creation of the time before cars when the streets where all for people, probably before the invention of the wheel enabled carts to hinder the road wandering yokel. And that age old feel of tight streets, small cottages, big houses set in large grounds, all with colourful flowers outside the kitchen window, under which,