John Evans

The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt on display at Tate Modern, London in the Turbine Hall

The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt on display at Tate Modern, London in the Turbine Hall

The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt on display at Tate Modern, London in the Turbine Hall

Powerful, personal, political and poignant. The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt on display at Tate Modern, London in the Turbine Hall

A red rose in bloom with yet to bloom buds around it on a warm spring day in London

The first buds into bloom of our rose Cheerful Charlie, planted in honour of that most cheerful of animals that made me a more cheerful human. 🌹 🐺 💖💔

And this egg is from my mother-in-law and I chide her just as much as my own now departed mother for buying an Easter egg for a grown ass man - and then eat the whole one for breakfast every year.

An Easter egg opened in half to reveal depressed looking frog heads of the the Freddo brand.

This year, rather than a full frog, Cadbury have taken a Godfather approach and just put heads in there. We re-christened it the Fredo egg (IYKYK). Perennially surprised that 18 teaspoons of sugar makes me feel sick - especially washed down with V60 pour over of Colombian coffee.

The tropical walk in one of the glasshouses at. Chelsea Physic Garden. A long corridor with lush green plants on either side

First time visit to Chelsea Physic Garden. Oddly peaceful in the midst of the rare air.

Two women in a kitchen, the older one rests her hands in a kitchen top while her daughter fixes her mother’s hair, a concentrated expression on her face. The picture is from the late 1970s.

Happy Birthday Mum - not sure if you would have made it to 82 but you should have. Pictured fixing her Mother's hair in the lean-to kitchen. The tones in this picture from a classic Polaroid remind me of a Caravaggio, coupled with the quiet drama of the scene and the black curls of my mother…

The set of Twelfth Night at The Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond from the upper gallery. A grand piano sits on a bronzed floor with a rotating sundial in the middle and the audience is very close to the performing area.

Devlishly fine production of Twelfth Night at The Orange Tree in Richmond. Great use of the space, the piano, that turntable. First time sitting upstairs and quite liked hanging off the rafters. Great chemistry in the cast and everyone playing to just the right degree. Nice start to the year.

The cast of The Importance of Being Earnest at the National Theatre, London. Jack Worthing is standing on a table and the rest of the cast are around him looking up at him.

Lady Bracknell (Sharon D. Clarke) and Gwendolen Fairfax (Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́) peacocking in some beautiful dresses and hats in The Importance of Being Earnest at the National Theatre, London.

Jack Worthing (Hugh Skinner) and Algernon Moncrieff (Ncuti Gatwa) sat next to each other on a sofa in The Importance of Being Earnest at the National Theatre, London.

Algernon Moncrieff (Ncuti Gatwa) in a pink dress playing a piano during the opening number of The Importance of Being Earnest at the National Theatre, London - one of the cast is dressed as Oscar Wilde

Spectacular production of The Importance of Being Earnest at the National Theatre. Sharon D. Clarke was a brilliant Lady Bracknell and the whole cast tore it up and their enthusiasm was infectious and joyous. Pictures from the National Theatre website by Marc Brenner.

A well-fed fox with a nice coat standing in full view on a sunny path in Kew Gardens at lunchtime waiting for food scraps.

As much a regular at Kew as us, a fox that no longer really knows it’s a fox. Not sure if it has a name but it really should given how often I see it in person or on social media (other people’s, not the fox’s). It appeared on cue at lunchtime and looks well fed and groomed.

Haven’t looked since then!

A cactus in the temperate house at Kew Gardens that looks a bit like a gingerbread man

The long path leading to the Temperate House at Kew Gardens with the sun behind it

A long pergola with the sun creating shadows on the path below it.

A pair of metal Christmas trees in the lake that are used in the Kew at Christmas light display in the evenings.

Crisp day at Kew Gardens where it was more about light than foliage. Shot raw with a range of aperture settings on the trusty little Sony compact DSC-RX100-M2 and processed in Lightroom. I bought the Sony over 10 years ago and has been a reliable and durable little camera.

Film but can't remember the camera exactly (taken 1967 👴🏻) - was possibly a Halina 35mm my uncle had at the time and probably a roll of Ilford HP5 sent to the chemist and picked up 2 weeks later!! It was scanned by a pro company last year at decently high res, helped with the tones I think.

Me as a child and my mother aged about 23 when we lived in York, UK in the late 1960s

Going through a trove of photos belonging to my late mother and which I had scanned. I feel like this one would have been a suitable cover for a single by The Smiths...before the fall of Morrissey of course

River Thames at very low tide as part of the annual draw off at Eel Pie Island, Twickenham

River Thames at very low tide as part of the annual draw off at Eel Pie Island, Twickenham

River Thames at very low tide as part of the annual draw off at Eel Pie Island, Twickenham

River Thames at very low tide as part of the annual draw off at Eel Pie Island, Twickenham

Thames Draw Off 2024 at low tide by Eel Pie using, shock horror, a non-camera phone with long forgotten things like f-stops, shutter speeds and depths of field. Bit like driving a manual car after 30 years of an auto!

Seems like I picked an awesome day to give Mastodon another try….is the UK instance always like this???

Tulips in a meadow style planting

Orange tulips viewed from above to form a pattern

Low angle shot of white tulips with mauve ends

Tulips in Keukenhof in the Netherlands 🇳🇱

Marble Hill House in the background with a mostly flooded field in front

Live from “Lake Marble Hill” in Richmond. Note the bench to the left. Can’t remember it ever being this waterlogged.

A crow on the grass watching us eat lunch on a bench

A bench with the sun in the background shining through the bare branches of trees.

Appeared during a chilly bench lunch at Kew Gardens last week. My husband’s long-departed nan apparently said she would come back as a crow and any time we see one we just say “Hello Phylis”. The light was amazing and the sun very wintry.

The Orange Tree Theatre set for She Stoops to Conquer. A 1930s country house with wood panels and leather furniture and a Xmas tree. Performed in the round in a small theatre.

She Stoops To Conquer at Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond is a super jolly, well performed and festive piece. Lovely venue too - can’t believe first time we’ve been despite living nearby for years. And they left a little welcome note on the seat.

Marble Hill Park in Richmond with a sunburst through the trees

Marble Hill Park rendered and with an iPhone raw setting. Parts of it are catching up with my DSLR and parts are not!

A squirrel jumping out of a flower pot having just buried something.

Creature making winter provisions with a bit of digging in the pots.

Went to Costa Coffee for first time in an age. Was faffing about with the app trying to see if I had any old rewards and the nice young woman behind the counter reached over and operated the app for me. I’m officially a befuddled old fella in a coffee shop 💀 ☕️

A search in Apple Books that offers a Schopenhauer book as expected and one for the film Quadrophenia also as a result.

Apple Books algorithm seems to have me figured out.

The reflection of a sinister looking man in a dirty window.

Black Country Living Museum. Cockney Interloper.

A half eaten cinnamon and raisin bagel and a nice cup of coffee

A rare, more or less once a year, cinnamon and raisin bagel 🥯 prompted two specific memories.
.
(a) before I had diabetes
(b) when I cared I had diabetes
So in the "make new memories" spirit I've added a third:
(c) Fuck it

A red rose in bloom. The rose is Cheerful Charlie and we bought it in honour of our departed and beloved whippet Charlie

Cheerful Charlie rose. Charlie was always cheerful.

Could be…an algebra where irony about unintended irony cancels the irony…

I was confused (for a change). Was the Twitter op implying that the rebranding to X had reduced it to 100m users in the space of 15 minutes?

Oh, I remember going there when it was in Berwick St (I think).

A wide field Optos scan of an eye.

Had a nice ophthalmology appointment earlier. Thought I’d post a selfie.