... is undoubtedly bracing at this time of year - that came as no surprise - but what was rather disarming was the charm of the place. I'd never before been to Skegness and knew of it only from the famous Great Northern Railway Company poster that put the resort on the map in the first decade of the 20th C. In my occasional travels to Lincoln I'd often thought about taking it in, and Boston come to think of it, but had never really felt the urge.

The beach, a short walk from all the razzmatazz associated with a popular seaside resort, was magnificent - sand as far as the eye could see. I'd somehow imagined it would be one of those rather disagreeable pebble affairs that guarantees tar on your trousers however carefully you select your spot to sit.  Anyway, despite the sun, it was a bit sharp so The Ambassador's Daughter and I wandered in to town passing on the way this entrance to the late Victorian pier,

... before coming across this delightful park behind the Grand Parade.

A splendid lunch of fish and chips - the fish was perfectly fresh - saw us on our way to our next stop, Boston, where once again it was difficult not to be impressed by the town's many layers of architecture and the huge tower of St Botolph's church dominating the scene.

The Tiramisu in Prezza was only a squeak behind my sister's for quality.

And then it was time to get back to work. A frame for the headlights of a tractor kept me out of mischief for a while and Learned Counsel rang to say that he'd spotted an air planishing tool on the web. That would be very useful for when I come to do the wings for the Austin. I've read that you can, with a planishing hammer, do pretty much anything that you can do with a wheeling machine. Obviously you'd need a variety of heads but I shall definitely encourage its acquisition; let's hope I have more success than when I was encouraging him to get a sandblasting cabinet - I'm still waiting to see that.

A quick doodle on a napkin (I ran out of room for the nearside front wheel) is always helpful as it keeps the end in sight. It looks a bit like one of those Schuco clockwork racing cars at the moment but it's a start. I like to draw in Biro starting with the bones and working outwards. Pencil is okay but the mistakes you make can be erased - obviously - and that, for me, defeats the object of a preliminary sketch; what you get wrong is probably more important than what you get right. Overlaying is always an interesting process because you end up with a sort of see-through model - a cut-away drawing - though a great deal less precise than those the Eagle comic used to enthral us with.

It's the sort of thing that you can do to pass the time of day at the beach.