Journey to Derby

There is nothing like an extreme snow warning to keep the motorways nice and clear. The drive up the M1 to Derby was a breeze with hardly any traffic and the fields on either side picturesque in their snowy coverings.

The Blog does not spend much time on motorways, so on these rare occasions it is impressive how much service stations have changed for the better. At Leicester it's a Starbucks/Waitrose combo, where you can get some decent 99p pastries with coffee and a scenic view of the northbound carriageway.

In fact bargain prices seem to be a way of life in Derby, where the glitzy new Westfield shopping centre is side-by-side with the fantastic indoor Eagle Market, where fruit and veg, clothes, books and scooters are on display and cheap as chips.

The Blog was reminded of a much earlier business trip to Courtaulds in Spondon, Derby in the 1980s, when the scene was one of devastation. The destruction of the Midlands manufacturing industry was written large in the post-apocalypse landscape surrounding the surviving Courtaulds buildings. What a contrast to today, where according to local websites Derby is England's fastest-growing city for wealth creation by GVA (Gross Value Added).

(photo: thisisderbyshire.co.uk)