London,  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  Seasons,  The Changing Seasons,  Themed galleries

Gallery: a January selection (2026)

February 2, 2026 / 39 Comments

The days are short, / The sun a spark

Hung thin between / The dark and dark.

John Updike, A Child’s Calendar

The days in January may be short, and the sun in short supply. In England we’ve had more than our fair share of rain this month, or so it seemed. But there were also some brighter, if colder, days. And at the start of the month even some snow (relatively rare these days).

January is often a quiet month after the buzz of December’s Christmas build-up and festivities. But that wasn’t the case for us this year. Our activities in London were book-ended by a stay in Newcastle at the start of the month and a few days in Doha (en route to Sri Lanka) at the end. In Newcastle there was a family get-together as well as local walks and a bit of shopping. In Doha … well, I’m drafting this before our departure so news from there will have to wait!

Life in London

Between those trips we managed to fit in a range of fun outings. We went to an immersive exhibition of the Last Days of Pompeii which, although we’ve already visited Pompeii itself, added to our knowledge of the eruption of Vesuvius which destroyed the city, as well as being a fun VR experience. A very different exhibition was Lee Miller at Tate Britain: a thorough retrospective which told us as much about her fascinating life as it did her photography. We went to the cinema twice (a Saipan preview with a Q&A with stars and directors, and Rental Family, both of which were excellent). I also went to see Hamnet (also very good!) and Song Sung Blue myself; having been an avid Neil Diamond fan in my teens, and still an admirer of his music, that last one was a must.

We very much enjoyed a rare (for us) theatre outing, to see Gerry and Sewell, an effective reimagining and updating of a book (The Season Ticket) and film (Purely Belter). This is the story of two Newcastle United fans down on their luck but desperate to get season tickets to watch their beloved team play. Another treat was a Japanese-themed afternoon tea, using a voucher I received from good friends on my birthday last year which we’d saved for January because ‘things would be quieter and duller then’!

Regular activities

I continued to enjoy my U3A table tennis afternoons, went to an interesting talk about the impact of the Norman Conquest and to a meeting of my art history group. At my photography group we experimented with triptychs, I showed some favourite shots from Florence, and another member shared some moody monochromes taken in the Lake District. And I was thrilled when I got an email out of the blue from a man living in Texas but originally from Liverpool asking to purchase a print of one of my photos of that city for his office wall! I sent him a hi-res copy to print himself and asked that he make a donation to Plan Zheroes in return, which he did (and a generous sum it was). This is the image in question:

Three Graces, Liverpool
Technical notes

The first few shots in Newcastle were taken with my Lumix point and shoot camera, apart from the snow at Blackfriars. That one and all the rest were taken with my phone. Most have been at least a little edited with Photoshop Elements and some more heavily edited with Nik Color Efex. The black and white conversions were done with Nik Silver Efex.

As always, I am linking my selection to Ju-Lyn’s and Brian’s Changing Seasons challenge. And I’m also linking to Natalie’s new Monthly Wrap-up. However as I’m away travelling, and have scheduled this post, please bear with me if I don’t add the links until a while after publication.

Please use the arrows to navigate the slideshow if you want to see all the images. My feature photo is a creative edit of some snowy trees in Newcastle.



NOTE: ‘Requiem’ by Chris Ofili at Tate Britain is a permanent mural on the walls of the gallery’s north staircase. It is a memorial to all who lost their lives in the tragic Grenfell fire in June 2017, in particular his artist friend Khadija Saye.

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