There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.
Rachel Carson
Writing this at the end of March it seems appropriate to start with a quote about the spring, which seems definitely to have arrived in London now. Street trees are in blossom, birds are more active and more vocal, and our garden is awakening.
But my ‘story’ starts back in the tail-end of winter, February, one of my least favourite months. That’s because I was away at the end of that month, travelling in the Philippines, so this is a round-up of both February and March.
February at home
We had two weeks at home before setting off to the Philippines. Things were a little quieter than January had been, but we fitted in three visits to the cinema (A Real Pain, my choice; Becoming Led Zeppelin, Chris’s choice; and September 5, which we were both keen to see!) We also went to the V&A’s photography galleries to see an exhibition themed around Energy in photography. While there we had a quick wander through the Japanese galleries, and stopped off for a coffee in the magnificent setting of the museum’s café.
I went to a meeting of my photography group where we discussed plans for our forthcoming exhibition. And I joined the U3A (University of the Third Age) and went to an interesting talk about the life and poetry of John Donne, which took me back to my university days. I hope to get more involved in the group now I’m back from our trip.
Philippines travels
I’ve already shared some photos from the trip and no doubt will share a mountain more. So I haven’t included any in the slideshow below. Suffice to say, we had a great time and found it a fascinating country!
March at home (and in Newcastle)
We returned to a lovely weekend in London, feeling that spring was on the way. But after two days of warm sunshine the cold of winter returned. However spring definitely was coming, and we saw more signs of it as the month wore on. Blossom appeared on street trees, daffodils in the parks and the days grew longer.
And there was more than just the weather to make us happy. A week or so after our return, Newcastle United beat Liverpool in the Carabao Cup Final and won their first domestic trophy in seventy years! We didn’t have tickets for the match but watched it on a big screen in a bar in Southwark with 500 other London-based fans, and celebrated afterwards with friends. Two weeks later there was day of celebration up in Newcastle with an open-top bus parade and party on the Town Moor, so we went up for a couple of days to join the fun with our friends there. The city was decked out in black and white, everyone was smiling and an estimated 300,000 people turned out either to watch the parade (as we did), party on the Town Moor, or both.
Less dramatic but still fun were our various outings in London. We went to the Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, had dinner with friends we’d first met on our 2019 trip to North Korea (one of whom we hadn’t seen since the end of the tour), and I also met up with former work colleagues for dinner one evening.
Excitingly, I also had two photos included in the Ealing LIP (London Independent Photographers) exhibition (you can see them here, along with two that didn’t make the cut) and enjoyed our private view evening. And although not exciting, I was pleased to have surgery on a cataract in my left eye which had been somewhat affecting my photography and indeed daily life. That meant that it was only towards the end of the month that we could resume our regular-ish cinema trips with The Alto Knights.
I think all this activity shows how much we appreciate living in London with all that it has to offer!
Technical notes
Most of the shots in my slideshow were taken with my phone, but I used my Panasonic Lumix point and shoot camera for the blossoms and birds. Most have been at least a little edited with Photoshop Elements and some also with Nik Color Efex and/or Topaz AI (denoise and sharpen). The one monochrome shot (Greenwich) was edited with Nik Silver Efex.
As always I am linking my selection to Ju-Lyn’s and Brian’s Changing Seasons challenge. Use the arrows to navigate the slideshow if you want to see all the images. And apologies, there are more than usual because of the two months’ coverage (even without including the Philippines!)
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Easymalc
I thought that Newcastle might feature in this selection somewhere
Sarah Wilkie
Haha, how could they not?!
bushboy
Wonderful month Sarah. So much to enjoy. I bet the pub would have been noisy with Newcastle winning.
Thanks for joining in The Changing Seasons
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Brian
I’ll edit this to include a link to your post now it’s up. Yes, the pub was very noisy, especially when we scored – but almost less so at the end when we realised we’d won and were somewhat stunned as it was rather unexpected!
bushboy
The stunned silence is something to experience as well as goal excitement
Rose
It sounds like you have been delightfully busy with your travels and photography. Wonderful quote for spring. You captured the ship in the bottle so well, it’s an interesting image with so many details.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you very much Rose
That bottle is huge, so it’s hard to show the scale in a photo, but I’m glad you enjoyed the details.
Heyjude
A fabulous two months! I wondered whether you would be up in Newcastle celebrating! Love the blossom and the blue tit – I managed to capture one in a magnolia tree, but birds usually fly away as soon as I focus the camera. I must admit I sometimes get a bit envious of people with city life on the doorstep, I’d love to visit all the galleries and museums in London. But then I stand in the lane in peace and quiet and look out to the sea and think maybe being a country mouse isn’t too bad.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Jude
Conversely, we sometimes stay in the country and I listen to the silence at night and think it might be nice to live somewhere without so much noise, but then I remember all the things we enjoy in London and I realise I’m happiest here!
Heyjude
It’s tempting to have two houses (if you can afford to!)
Sarah Wilkie
Indeed, although friends that did so used to bemoan the fact that things were never in the right place!
Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter
Paddington and Basil are my winners. I like Paddington’s message, and Basil is just a very handsome chap.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank Anabel
I like those two for exactly those reasons – Paddington’s message is spot on!
margaret21
What a busy bee! And lots of variety in that gallery, which didn’t seem over-long at all. You really are dyed-in-the-wool footie fans, aren’t you?
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Margaret, glad you didn’t find it too long
I’d say Chris is dyed-in-the-wool while I’m more infected, having caught the bug from him rather than grown up with it!
margaret21
Ah. For me ‘Lack of interest in sport’ was a deal breaking requirement when interviewing prospective life-partners
Monkey's Tale
You have parakeets out your window?! Wow, they would be wonderful to see every day/spring.
I hope you have a speedy recovery with your cataract surgery. Maggie
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Maggie
Yes, parakeets are quite common in many parts of London these days. It’s said they started with just a few (possibly one pair) that escaped or were released from captivity, and have thrived here since. There are various rumours about their exact origin – I like the one that claims they escaped from a film set for the African Queen!
Anne Sandler
You’ve been busy Sarah. I loved all your images, and I appreciated how you are able to photograph crowds.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Anne
I’ve been in a few crowds lately!
thehungrytravellers.blog
The Kent countryside is feeling and looking very Spring like too…birds nesting in our garden, bumble bees and butterflies already out doung their stuff even before April is here. In a few weeks’ time it’ll be exactly 50 years since Derby last one a major trophy (the League, by the way!), but regrettably there’s a very big chance that we’ll drift past “your” 70 before we get chance to relive such glories!
Sarah Wilkie
Yes, we’ve seen bumble bees too (but not sure I’ve spotted any butterflies yet)
You never know about Derby (look at Leicester winning the league a few years back, and the recent rise of teams like Brentford) but it is sadly getting harder and harder for any team to threaten the big teams’ monopoly 
Sue
Busy, busy, busy!
Sarah Wilkie
That’s how I like it!
Sue
Great!