Nearly done

 Yes, gentle reader, I have very nearly finished filling up the sketchbook I was bought for Christmas. I'm up to forty nine sketches with just one clean page left. Here's numbers forty six to forty nine.

This is Kent's Hever Castle. Last week I joined a new art group. I had my book and pens, but nothing to sketch. So I checked my phone and looked at the photos. Last July for my daughter Jess' birthday her husband Dan and I took her on a trip to the castle. Jess is very interested in the Tudors and this is where Anne Boleyn grew up. And yes, Jess has claimed this sketch when I finish the sketchbook.

I love transport and it struck me last week that despite the number of times I've crossed the English Channel I have never ridden on a hovercraft. This is the huge SRN4.It's the largest civil hovercraft ever used commercially and as well as passengers it also carried vehicles. They were used from 1968 until 2000, carrying over 200 passengers and 30 vehicles. Only 1 still remains.

This combines a couple of things I love. The location is Ealing Broadway. Ealing is the part of West London in which I grew up. It also has a tram in it. This particular type of tram is called a Feltham Tram, which was in service in London from the 1930s. 

Where I grew up in Ealing we were not so very far from Heathrow Airport. We were on the flight path and I grew up used to the sight and sounds of planes flying over the house. I really liked the idea of drawing a picture showing how Heathrow has changed . Propeller planes like this were still flying out of Heathrow when I used to cycle to the airport and watch the planes from the Southern Perimeter road - British Airways still had some Vickers Viscounts on some short haul destinations.