SATURDAY There’s an article in The Coversation that considers some of the small acts of ritual and expression during the pandemic that might end up as the folklore of the future.
They include things like Clapping for Carers and window displays. I would like to have seen witty shop signage and street art in the mix. These have been exceptional and our friend Gill made a great collection on her exhaustive strolls around London.
# In today’s coffee/chat Zoom with local friends, we all told a story about our favourite books. Mine was Winesburg, Ohio, by Sherwood Anderson.
# An article in the Guardian Weekly rambles on about how the City of London has been hollowed out by the pandemic. It goes on to speculate about the future and whether the virus, plus Brexit, will be the final straw for a white-collar business and financial square mile that has for many years been crammed daily with 250,000 wheeler-dealing workers. Brexit could end up being the more deadly. The City was collectively pro-European, and strongly against those arguing for an exit. But it was shrewd enough to initiate a Plan B. Culture Mile is a grand project aimed at remodelling part of the City as a hub for the arts and creative industries. It was already underway before the virus exhaled its breath of death. Will the new project now be accelerated? That is difficult to say. The creative industries have been hard hit by the pandemic. Many of our actors have fallen into poverty and had little support from the government. Museums and galleries have started to reopen, but theatres remain closed. It is hard to see a speedy return to business as usual. So as Brexit begins its downgrading of the City’s financial muscle worldwide, Coronavirus could simultaneously suffocate its arty successor. I want to be optimistic, but hard facts tell me not to.
# Yay! In Cardinal, John and Lise finally got it together in her Toronto hotel room. Then they got up to start the finale chase for the psycho revenge killer.
BillyScraps 