“If you climb a mountain but don’t Instagram the view from the summit, have you even climbed it? I wanted the answer to be yes - knew it to be - but, somehow, incredibly, I didn’t always believe it. I let the impulse crash over me, hating it, and ignored the twitch for my phone.”

— The Farthest Shore by Alex Roddie 📚

Tiny thespians at work…

Two girls on an outdoor stage at Nymans, a National Trust property.

Just put some petrol in the car for what could well be the last time ever.

Changes…

A Renault Megane at a petrol station.

Good morning from Shoreham Beach.

A winter sun low over Shoreham Beach.

Lovely profile of the people behind LumaFusion, my go-to video editor - and an iPad app.

Charlie Warzel, writing for The Atlantic:

“The acceptance and fellowship that online communities bring, be they subreddits and Facebook groups or anonymous message boards, allow grievance to harden into a full-fledged identity.”

Viewpoint + Community = Identity

This is a rather nice one. Trafalgar Square, early summer 1994.

One of the fountains in Trafalgar Square in summer 1994.

More West End candids from 1994.

A busker in Leicester Square in 1994.

Chiquito in Leicester Square, 1994

A girl cluching a Ronald McDonald ballon on her father’s shoulders, near the Swiss Centre in Leicester Square — 1994.

Tourists on the steps of Eros in Picadilly Circus in 1994.

A few candids shot around London’s West End in early summer 1994.

Sure, the fashions date them — but the sheer absence of phones is what really leaps out at me.

Toni’s Italian Ice Cream, being sold near Trafalgar Square in 1994.

A robot busker near Leicester Square in 1994, being watched by a crowd of tourists.

A woman reading a magazine in Trafalgar Square in 1994.

Here’s the posts that caught your attention on my site in 2021.

Happy New Year to you all!