Dear LPG, 

Taking pictures of random things is so much easier these days because there is no costly developing to do, you can see them straight away and with the help of a smart phone, your camera is in your pocket nearly every time you go out.  

I think that LPG has inspired a few people to do a little more with the camera apps on their phones during the years that they have been online.  Many of the ones posted have been of practical things that we see around our borough.  I particularly liked the one of the ‘al fresco’ washing machine (►►►) and the one that so reminds me of the day after a family Christmas get together and the relative devastation that so many of us missed last year  (►►►). 

The pictures that I have seen on the LPG pages have served to remind me to get my phone out much more often than I used to and when I see the oddest things, although I have never thought that I had taken anything worth sending in until now.

I took this picture just over the border, in the Borough of Southwark and it got me thinking about those times when some situation you are facing leaves you really feeling that everywhere you turn results in you facing an impassable brick wall.  But pictures can be deceiving because this is the corridor that is below the set of flats where my friend lives and there are lots of side exits that either the camera angle, or our outlook on life might not be allowing us to see.  

I think that this is a bit like many situations that we all face in our lives from time to time; those times when you think that you have no more options or there is nowhere to go.  I have been there on occasion and, when I was walking through the reality of it, this picture served as a reminder of those times, but I notice that we nearly all have managed to find our way out of all those situations, and we nearly are all still around to tell the tale 

So, I hope that any reader who is facing some difficulty that seems impossible to deal with now, will have the opportunity to see my picture, look to the light and see the exits, both in the picture and in their real-life situations. 

LF, Croydon,