Text Box: Looe, 1976 Chapter 26 was a drawing of the magical town of Polperro in Cornwall, England. We rented an apartment in the nearby town of West Looe. I don’t remember much about the apartment except for the fact that I hated it when we first arrived. It had no views other than the roof across the street and seemed dimmer and more poorly furnished than it had been described. I suppose it didn’t help that we were coming from a huge airy house on the beach in Devon. We eventually got used to the place and just didn’t spend any more time inside than necessary. That being said I’m pretty sure that we had a television and Amy got to see her first Paddington cartoons. Amy’s favorite stuffed animal was, and is, Paddington Bear. I had an extremely high opinion of the quality of British television until we got to see the local favorite, “Gus Honeybun Reads Your Birthday.” We split most of our time between Looe and Polperro and I did a big drawing in each town. I had reached a point where I liked people stopping by and commenting. It helps me build the drawing in an orderly way and gives me the drive to keep doing it. I didn’t want to have someone come by and not notice any addition to the scene. There were some people who checked my progress in each town. One little girl asked if I had counted the ridges in the building with the curved roof. I mentioned last month that Polperro seems to look exactly the same thirty-two years later. Looking at current photos of Looe makes me think that the entire foreground has been replaced. I’m sure the quay is the same and the buildings on the hill have remained but the shed and tackle shop seem to be gone.

 Close Ups

This must have been the local fishermen’s cooperative. We came across them everywhere.

In those days I tried to fit everything into a drawing. I’m surprised I didn’t include customers.

I remember buying a tiny set of Beatrix Potter books to read to Amy.

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