June ended with a gradual easing of lockdown, accelerating a bit with the first weekend of July seeing more businesses reopening. It hasn’t made a huge difference to us day to day, but it’s been nice to have friends round to sit in the garden and to meet people in the park. 5 slow laps jogged around Charlton Park with some of my usual Parkrun crew was nice, and a reminder of how Saturday mornings used to be.

I didn’t feel like rushing to the pub, but the idea of a drink in a pub garden is now more appealing than I thought it would be a couple of weeks ago, though I think I’ll hold off for a couple of weeks ago. I really could do with a haircut but there wasn’t much sign of PPE in action when I walked past my just-reopened barbers, so I may continue with Big Hair until I’ve found somewhere else.

We went back for a Sunday afternoon explore of Foots Cray Meadow with friends; nice to get out of the immediately surrounding postcodes without feeling like we were going too far.

Whether it’s just because we’ve been able to spend more time there, or whether adding a few more plants has made a difference, it’s felt like a good year for wildlife in our garden.

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Wishing you a Merry Christmas from the north-east of England. We’re doing the annual tour of the relatives for Christmas week. The end of 2018 has been busy with the adjustment to freelance life, a determined effort to get fitter, a few gigs, and a bit of an uptick in photographic activity (little of which I’ve got round to recording here). I hope to carry on 2019 in much the same way, if I can (though hopefully remembering to post here more often). May you have a peaceful end of 2018 and start of 2019.

Down to the Thames Barrier on Bank Holiday Sunday morning to take photos for a few different projects:

• To illustrate a Charlton Champion post on the fly tipping that blights the industrial estate
• To capture the derelict Victoria pub on the south side of the estate (as posted here yesterday), and
• To add to a slowly growing (and in need of editing) collection of photos of the area, before the Charlton Riverside redevelopment really kicks off.

While in the area it’s impossible not to go and have a look at the river. The light was only so-so, and the view’s been photographed a million times but it still feels worth it, though, as the landscape keeps changing. How long before it’s impossible to see the Millennium Dome/O2 Arena from this part of Charlton?

Nearby, it was amusing to see how Greenwich Council have fixed their signage department’s peninsula(r) error, and also good to see the Barrier memorial settling into the landscaping.

Later on rain it rained torrentially for much of the rest of the day in classic Bank Holiday weekend style, so I was pleased to have achieved something in the morning, even if it was mostly photographing fly tipping and dereliction.

To Charlton Lido on a warm July evening to hear Theo Thomas of London Waterkeeper charity talk about the challenges of making the Thames a swimmable river. It wasn’t entirely relevant for swimmers at my end of the Thames (the currents and the law make it a less than wise choice for swimming), but still an interesting evening. It’s good to know that there are people pushing to improve the quality of our river water (though it was dispiriting to be reminded how so many of the improvements in recent decades have come from EU law, and what that might mean for a post-Brexit Britain).

On the way out the sun was setting over a very still lido.

(PS I’m selling A4 prints of this for only £20 + P&P) – get in touch if you’d like one!)