The last time we spoke was a year ago today on my birthday last year. I keep meaning to tell you things that you would like to hear forgetting for a moment that you’re not there anymore. But the children are all doing well, especially the two who started the new school and you’d be proud of all of them. We’re off out to see the fireworks with Dad tonight and I wish you could be with us. Sleep well, Mum. x
A week or so ago I travelled across England to pick up a car. So the away journey was by train and the return by car.
There’s a lot of enforced down time during a trip like that so I took a few photos made a few drawings, read a bit of Vonnegut, thought about stuff. Very enriching in all.
I liked the idea I could sample the sea on opposite coasts in one day. This was not possible on the way there as I was effectively on food and couldn’t get to Clevedon.
So my morning photo of the West that day was this one:
Caught the 11:05 to Paddington, with the express idea of drawing, a possibly trying to catch up on the 365 drawing thing I’ve been going. Not sure if you have tried drawing on a train, most people are too close for you to study without causing a uncomfortable situation and generally stuff is going passed so quickly outside you need a super fast photographic memory to get it in your brain before you can decide how to represent it on the page.
So I decided to go for the horizon, because that goes pass slower and if you miss a bit it doesn’t look too weird if you just join on to the contiuation.
I added the times and locations at points, also a few announcements from the guard to add some
.
I got as far as Didcot Parkway on that then got the I’ll-miss-my-stop-fear, even theough the train was terminating. The connections were really tight as I got a super cheap ticket I had to make everyone.
Managed to take a picture of Yea Olde Saint Pancras as I got to Kings Cross.
Then there I was in the East. It’s quite flat there. We picked up the car somewhere in the middle of the Fens, this is what it is like there.
Mostly sky.
I stayed over night at my folks place. There’s a lot of amazing old photos there. They should write a book.
Here is a picture of my Grandad at a Grasstrack meeting at Bourne in June 1949, less that 4 years after the end of the Second World War. Two Soldiers looking on. (Grandad’s on the left):
So the next day I set off as early as I could (which wasn’t that early), this time because I had wheels I could take a picture of the sea, here known as the Wash. It’s quite shallow there so the sea is often very flat compared to the ocean that crashes in on the West coast.
Wanted to draw on the way back too. But you can’t draw when driving. That is bad. So I took breaks (7 hour drive altogether), and when I took a break I drew the backend of whatever I could see.
I got caught in a nasty jam on the M62 so didn’t get back home until late. But just in time to catch the end of the light in this picture of the opposite Sea.
Paul Greer 