124-3583 – Shrocks

After my last sketch I had a gap of two days in sketching. When we drove down from Manchester via Oxford to Hove again, we had a road accident – a big lorry drove in to us on the motorway. Thankfully we were not hurt (and neither was the lorry driver), but the hire car was damaged, which so far has cost us a lot of money. We also spent some time meeting friends and helping put stuff into storage. When I had time I sketched these Crocks which belong to our eldest daughter…very cool…or very embarrassing, depending on your perspective!

Sun-9-Aug-2026

116-3414 – Flip-flops left behind

Here are some flip-flops (or slippers as they call them here) bought from Primark by my daughter for her beach holiday (on Boracay), and not needed in cold wet UK. They are of super poor quality – certainly not up to the standards of the “Islander” or “Havaiana” (actually Brazilian) brands that you can get here.

Sun-8-Mar-2026

112-3319 – Out with the old

We unearthed this pair of my wife’s shoes while looking for something else. They are still good (Rusty Lopez make shoes to last it seems), but they don’t fit her anymore (do feet get larger as you get older?)…so they might be given to one of our daughters or be given away. Somehow one of the shoes in this sketch looks bigger than the other!

The title of this seems like a good opportunity to wish everyone who is kind enough to follow my sketching (and especially those who make genuine helpful and encouraging comments), a Happy New Year! Here’s hoping for a (more) peaceful and kinder 2026.

Tue-23-Dec-2025

112-3318 – New shoes early Christmas

The day before I sketched this we bought these shoes for my wife at Shangri-la Plaza (we got two pairs for the price of one). We were also there to buy my own present at “The Tannery Manila”, have a nice lunch at Italianni’s and to go and see Avatar: Fire and Ash as a treat for our daughter’s 24th birthday. I did this sketch a little too carelessly while I half-watched a Korean movie (the great flood).

Sun-21-Dec-2025

91-2789 – Hiking shoes

This is the last sketch I did while we were staying in Suffolk…my daughters new hiking shoes. The day I drew this we planned our meals for Womad camping, did a big shop in the supermarket, said goodbye to my mum and sister and crammed all of our luggage into the car. These shoes seem to be excited for the next leg of our holiday, as they are already walking off the edge of the page!

Thu-25-Jul-2024

83-2610 – Grips

So, after a lot of #UrbanSketches this post goes back to an evening sketch of something around the home. I bought this pair of flip-flops (what people call slippers here) in Bantayan Island, over the New Year, when our luggage didn’t arrive with us. They were just the first pair I saw in the Hyper-Mart and they have super knobbly soles.

Wed-28-Feb-2024