If you’re from Birmingham, the sea always has an extra magic for you. Anyone from the West Midlands will know what I mean. We have nice countryside and plenty of canals, but we’re further away from the sea than anyone else. When I went to university and met people who lived by the sea all the time it simply didn’t compute. It doesn’t matter where I am, if I’m confronted with a sea view — be it picturesque, industrial, or merely mundane – my jaw drops in wonder.
I need to get out of London whenever possible. I have a great job, but it means I am in a studio in west London six days a week. Whenever I get a Sunday off, I go slightly mad. Like a cork out of a bottle, I go racing out of town. I clocked 550 miles last weekend going nowhere in particular.
If you feel a strange urge to go to a place, cure yourself of it by going. All my life I wondered what happened in the middle of America. We all know about the coasts, but what about the middle? Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico — what goes on there? I went on a road trip with Frank Skinner to find out. And the answer is not a lot. El Paso always had a certain ring to its name. A kind of magic. I just had to see it. We only stayed a night but it didn’t feel very magical at all.
I feel at home in Eastern Europe. My mum’s Croatian and I spend a lot of time there, and in the former Yugoslavia too. I’m always at ease anywhere in the region – Romania, Slovakia, Poland, wherever. The earthy, slightly behind-the-times, rather shambolic aspect suits me.
Holidaying is a knack. And I haven’t got it. I’m on the go all the time and I find it hard to just do nothing. I had absolutely nothing to do last Sunday. I was with my brother in our house in Wales. I said to him in the evening: ‘I’ve had a lovely relaxing day.’ ‘Relaxed?’ he said. ‘You’ve paced around nonstop, cooked a ludicrously complicated meal and gone out running for two hours.’ Point taken.
Adrian Chiles’ DVD 2 Good 2 Bad —The World Cup is available to buy now (£19.99).
