Write, edit, tea, walk, rabbits, life – not in any order.
It feels like I applied for a proper job today but really it's freelance, part-time, remote WFH work on top of my current workload. (Not like that time I applied for a full-time job with an NGO in Berlin and was going to potentially uproot my whole life – would have been fun, though). So what … Continue reading "Pandemic diary 87: Socially distanced job interview"
When… When your three-year-old great nephew says the phrase 'social distancing' as the reason you can't get close… When you overhear an older lady talking about the speech she never gave because of lockdown and how she would rather wait to give it in person to a real audience… When the neighbour's six-year-old kid runs … Continue reading "Pandemic diary 82: When melancholia hits…"
Just before lockdown, three of us launched Walkspace as a Midlands collective based on the strange and often academic arts of creative walking. We ran a few events, mostly night walks, before the global pandemic smothered all our plans. Restricted to solo walking our suburb of Stirchley we started noticing… everything. And then we started mapping … Continue reading "Pandemic diary 81: Lockdown walks lead to a new map"
Guest post incoming – heeeeeeere's Pete, writing about his experience of coronavirus, lockdown and furlough, framed through the perspective vortex of unfolding time. Brevity bio for those who don't know Pete: he works at community bakery Loaf in Stirchley, teaches photography and makes art. The rest of the time he is also my beloved husband and … Continue reading "Pandemic diary 72: It's about time (guest post)"
Aka a sort of triumph of technology over lockdown isolation. Here's what went down in our beloved Artefact café's end-of-the-month quiz with "eternal Quizmaster and all round bodacious babe, Sebastiaan Ros". There were 29 teams – which is about 23 more than usual, tuning in from around Birmingham and beyond. Here's the play: Facebook event … Continue reading "Pandemic diary 67: The Artefact Quiz – pandemic edition"
Once again, after a long work day and a modern affliction of scriveners' palsy of the mouse hand, I am thankful for a guest post submission. I have poured myself a painkilling restorative of gifted prosecco – more on which below – as is the scribe's way, and now sit down to enjoy the second part … Continue reading "Pandemic diary 64: Football, fuckwittery and Larndon fings (guest post)"
After yesterday's cheery post on death, I think we need a bit of Sheena! Sheena is an old school friend who I reconnected with about six years ago in a pub somewhere in Worcestershire. She lives in London on her own in a flat near a river, social-distancing from one and all. Hello Sheena! __ … Continue reading "Pandemic diary 55: London lockdown vortex (guest post)"
Hello. I've done something stupid. I decided to pick up the guitar for the first time in about three years. And now my wrists hurt. So this will be a short post. Basically I loved it and couldn't stop and now my RSI has flared up. When will I learn that I can't compute AND … Continue reading "Pandemic diary 52: Fucking Blackbird"
I can't really think or write much tonight. On our walk this evening, we bumped into a friend who is going through the biggest pile of life-threatening and stressful crap that the world can throw at one person at one time. And on top of that they are stuck between a rock and a hard … Continue reading "Pandemic diary 50: A difficult day"
I'm writing this having had a major re-organise and tidy up of the office, followed by a big glass of red in the garden – you know that post-tidy meets alcohol feeling? Knackered meets sozzled? Ok so… that's where I'm at at 9.12pm on a Saturday night. [Pause for dinner – salmon, mash and broccoli with … Continue reading "Pandemic diary 47: Virtual representation of real life"