March it is....

It’s 30 July 2020 and I’m sitting in the shade of a closed Mecca Bingo Hall just off the A40 trying to get Zoom working on my phone. We are on our way to Bristol to see family. Like lots of people they’ve had a tough and lonely lockdown, I can’t wait to see them. We’ve hired a car which now seems to have a flat tyre and its crunch time – am I coming to Gravesham in October?

I’m really nervous, I was so excited to be offered this opportunity – to have the chance to think about community and art and meet people (I love meeting people) I don’t want to lose it. It just doesn’t feel right, the timing of travelling to a new place and meeting new people while ‘All This’ is going on. If I come in October what are the risks?  I’m most concerned about spreading the virus but I also don’t want to catch it. It feels like I’d miss out on meeting lots of people who will still need to be avoiding contact, I don’t want to isolate and exclude people even more. From the side of the road in West London, Gravesend and Brighton we meet in a Zoom room.

 

We are all in agreement. October isn’t right. I will come in March 2021. Or maybe I won’t? Something will happen in March. So, maybe, hopefully, I’ll be in Gravesham in March 2021. And if not – I’ll have to find another way to Pull Up a Chair and meet people. Maybe letters, maybe semaphore – who knows. I’m really looking forward to it.

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