We set off for our annual trip to England on April 25th on a Brittany Ferry from St Malo at 10 am.
I drew this sketch as we passed between the rocks on our way out of the harbour.
The crossing takes about 8 hours so I had plenty of time to sketch as we cruised along. The ferry is decorated with many drawings of Breton life and culture done in charcoal which I found very interesting for their looseness and individuality. This one was next to our table in the bar where we took our coffee.
We landed in the evening and after a couple of nights at Hamble where we saw Christopher and went to Southampton to shop and have our eye tests we went on to Christchurch. We had booked a week in a static caravan so that Mum could come to stay for a holiday with us as she's no longer able to fly to France.
We were blessed with the first whole week of sunshine of the year and were able to get out and about on the local buses to visit Christchurch and Southbourne where I had spent several summer holidays as a child.
It was very interesting to see the line of beach huts still along the promenade as I remembered them although there were only a few pensioners and dog walkers about unlike my old photo from August 1953 when the place was crowded with holidaymakers.
This is my Mum pushing Rosi in the pram with Chris on the left and me on her right. My Granny had a beach hut which we used every time we went there for changing in, making tea on the gas ring and storing all the buckets and spades and deckchairs. I can still smell the special odour of gas burning and old wood and seashells if I close my eyes!
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