Tag: Travel

3 Comments

The Potter and Funny Business

pauldaviescartoons

Back in the early 80s I had an agent, their business was marketing and selling illustrators and cartoonists like myself to ad agencies and design companies. There were only 2 or 3 people in the business and they were good at what they did. Generating work for us and generally getting very good fees for us, the sort that we artists would never have the brass nerve to ask. We got on well. Times were good. Each Christmas we were tasked with thinking off something novel to give to out clients, apart from just a free lunch at a fancy … Continue reading The Potter and Funny Business

Leave a comment

The Road Trip, The Reunion and an Italian speaking Uber driver.

pauldaviescartoons

We decided to take a trip back to our lives when we were 6 and even younger. My brother and I set off on a journey to Lancashire where we spent out early years. John’s good at driving so he was roped in to be at the wheel. He’s used to long hours at the wheel gathering antiques for his business from contacts up in the North. I only ever went on one of these buying trips once but it was an education. He had what seemed then to be a bladder the size of a garden water butt, able … Continue reading The Road Trip, The Reunion and an Italian speaking Uber driver.

Leave a comment

Restaurant trousers.

pauldaviescartoons

I don’t go out to ‘restaurants’ very much these days, I’m more at home with cafes after a good walk. There are some where I will go out of my way to visit, one being the local privately owned Garden Centre ( here ) where I can feed my plant addiction as well as my food addiction. One of my acid tests for a good eatery is the quality of the coffee, and Dundry coffee is second to none. More recently we went to a Cotswold pub which is these days a pub/restaurant. So a notch up or two from … Continue reading Restaurant trousers.

1 Comment

An Approximate Biker

pauldaviescartoons

Working on a book by a chap called Jim. This is one of the many characters in the book and my approximation of motorbike at speed. My drawings/cartoons are always approximations. This tends to elicit comments from people like motorbike purists. I was once asked to draw a bloke’s favourite bike, approximation would not do, it was a nightmare for me. I gave up in the end and we never spoke again, sadly he assumed that as I could do approximations I might be able to do exact. No, not exactly, in fact not at all. Some illustrators can draw … Continue reading An Approximate Biker

Leave a comment

Northern Soul in a former Museum?

pauldaviescartoons

A trip into Gloucester to the Folk, what was formerly the Folk Museum, but is now just “the Folk” with most of the Museum displays removed. It’s a sort of rebranding that seems to say “ we like the building, but we don’t know what to do with it”. They have events and volunteers coming from all directions who are hugely enthusiastic and friendly and will tell you all about the place. And they have events, on Saturday afternoon they had a couple of Northern Soul enthusiasts with their dj deck and massive speakers blasting out some brilliant Northern Soul … Continue reading Northern Soul in a former Museum?

2 Comments

So British to talk about the weather.

pauldaviescartoons

So perhaps we might give it a rest as our present weather seems to stay the same every day. Hours of unbroken sunshine every day has been the recent norm. Recent Norm sounds not unlike a nickname that you get on an early American TV Sitcom. He’d have had a catchphrase that would be adopted by the public, or at least that public that watched TV, which unlike these days was a large percentage. Remember “What do you think of it so far?” the answer: “Rubbish!”. A catch phrase that only people of a certain age would understand these days … Continue reading So British to talk about the weather.

2 Comments

Dark chocolate and a baguette.

pauldaviescartoons

My mother gave me a fruitcake to give to the French. She’d arranged the trip for me with a friend who worked at the local girl’s grammar school. I was to be the only boy amongst thirty 16 year old schoolgirls going on a French exchange to Paris. Sounded reasonable to me, I might learn a thing or two. I did and it wasn’t all French. To put this in context I was a boarder at the local all boy’s grammar school. My contact with any girls at all was minimal. Our school did no such sort of exchange with … Continue reading Dark chocolate and a baguette.

1 Comment

… and a six foot Italian Tawny Owl.

pauldaviescartoons

I’m on a plane as I write, so this is a risk, as is all travelling. On my way to Italy on a walking holiday and this small section of writing may well be lost as I’m doing it on the plane with no internet, so rather depending on the local hardware. I’m not a natural at travelling that is, in fact I’ve been one the reluctant traveller of late, seeing no glamour in it whatsoever. We took the bus to Heathrow and that was only ok in retrospect. The fact that we had seats helped, but there’s something very … Continue reading … and a six foot Italian Tawny Owl.

2 Comments

Going tut Thartgallery.

pauldaviescartoons

Thepworth to be exact. Ok, that’s enough of that nonsense. Yorkshire people take a defiant pride in their dialect and there’s a whole industry supporting the way they, or some of them, speak. No one has told the lady announcer at Wakefield train station, a city with two stations would you believe, as she spoke with the refined tones of a radio three announcer introducing a concert of Brahms. Was it only me that found it odd? The big black guy talking in an incomprehensible African dialect could be heard by almost anyone on the platform and be sure that … Continue reading Going tut Thartgallery.

4 Comments

It’s like a cruise without the water, (actually there was quite a lot of water).

pauldaviescartoons

They have several ‘houses’ around the country, like big country houses in superb locations. These are the ships. They fill them with people all of at least bus pass age, then bring in the crew. The usual chefs, managers and serving staff but additionally a volunteer crew who are charged with leading these ‘passengers’ on a variety of walks in the neighbourhood. We joined the ‘ship’ in North Yorkshire for a weekend of walking and talking. Trained it up there, all quite straightforward, then the taxi from the station in Skipton, a town known for the invention of the skip, … Continue reading It’s like a cruise without the water, (actually there was quite a lot of water).

Leave a comment

Before the rain

pauldaviescartoons

Three superb days with my very good friend Richard. Me showing off Gloucestershire to him, and him being his usual easy company as we invaded the places I like with an almost permanent commentary. There are talkers and listeners in this world and I’m one, Richard the other. He has a bone dry wit that is used to good effect as punctuation in my ramblers rambling. First day a quick tour of Leckie Hill. If you’re an Archers fan then the name might be familiar. Round here it should be called Leckhampton Hill and from it I could show him … Continue reading Before the rain

Leave a comment

The Arlingham Curve

pauldaviescartoons

I used to hate walking as a child. Going on a nice healthy walk seemed pointless when I could be running around playing with my friends or trying to get the light to work on my Sturmey Archer powered bike. The light on the front seemed as big as a cars headlight and was powered by a small generator on the back wheel. When it was on a small wheel clicked against the rim of the back wheel and turned to generate the power. This also acted like a brake, so getting any sort of light out of the floodlight … Continue reading The Arlingham Curve