56 Bus from Union Street Birmingham

As I have mentioned before I come from a mixture of Welsh, Scottish and English ancestry. I was brought up in Birmingham and moved to Wales with Alex some 35+ years ago.
One of my memories is getting the number 56 bus from Union Street in Birmingham to Washwood Heath where we lived.

Birmingham City Centre at the time came alive at night with thousands of starlings, which, came into the centre to roost for the night.
There were also the sounds of vendors selling everything from hot potatoes, roast chestnuts to the Evening Mail the local paper. Often of course it would be raining and the lights form the shop windows would reflect on the streets. It was all very atmospheric. I often met my father at the bus stop coming from work and we would come home together. My father unfortunately died at a comparatively young age.

Anyway this painting is one I have done for myself. It is an image that I have been thinking about doing for sometime and finally got around to painting it today (although I did the underpainting yesterday). It didnt take that long to paint as I had a very clear idea of what I wanted before I started.

PS the Bus is a Daimler and the Bus Garage was near the end of Highfield Road where we used to live.