Posts by Jen Ferguson
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As everywhere, it's been a surreal experience living in London in lockdown, although for my partner Glenn and me, we've had a very different perspective to the majority of the population. As beer and wine retailers, we're permitted to keep trading (although we moved to online/delivery-only weeks ago for the safety of our staff and customers). This means while most of London is housebound, we're busier than ever, with a reduced team working 12-hour days to service the demands of thirsty quarantined Brits. (And believe us, they're *thirsty*.)
It's been weird to watch the lockdown settle in. The first week, people were genuinely scared - everyone tuned in to the daily government broadcasts (once the government stopped having weekends off) and damn straight people stayed home. One day we drove down a normally gridlocked motorway near Canary Wharf and were the only car on the road, it was like a scene from 28 Days Later. Now, it feels there are almost as many people out and about as before, although at least they're usually 2m apart.
But among all this fear, ennui and uncertainty lies a great deal of love and extraordinary beauty too. We're privileged to be permitted to leave our house and drive through the wilds of South London as we deliver our boozy gifts - and oh man, you should see London in the springtime and the sunshine, when pollution levels have dropped right off. It's so beautiful that your heart leaps every time you round a corner. I can see for miles and miles... And if you ever wanted to know what it might feel like to be a Great Benefactor, try delivering a big box of beer to a bunch of bored, cooped-up flatmates on a Friday night.
But it's no match for the pub, for friends, for human contact. Everyone's still finding the Zoom/Houseparty thing a novelty but we all know it'll wear off soon. While out delivering the other night I saw a child's sign hanging in a front window. "Hugs will be back!" it declared, above a handpainted rainbow. I can't stop thinking about that. They will be back, one day - and not a moment too soon...
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Hard News: #GE2015: Proper Mad, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Is Russell Brand *still* talking? Frankly, after all his idiotic "don't vote" BS, doing a U turn at the last minute after it was too late for anyone to register, he should take himself back to the rock from under which he crept. (Still, rather him than Satan's own spin doctor Lynton Crosby, I guess.)
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Good god, this exit poll is depressing.
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FPTP in this country does indeed make MMP look like god's own electoral system. There's been a movement to try to make the best of a flawed situation and encourage vote-swapping (VoteSwap.org), whereby Green and Labour voters can swap votes to either vote Labour to keep a Tory out or vote Green in a seat where it will make a difference.
@radiowammo and I live in one of the safest Labour seats in the country (Camberwell & Peckham) and are just about to head off and vote - something I shamefully never bothered to do in all my years living here as a disengaged 20-something under Blair and something Glenn is still surprised he's able to do on his NZ passport - oh, the power of empire...
And I guess I should have known better, but I'm still sickened at the outrageously partisan, gutter-scraping savagery of the press - the 1% must be absolutely terrified of a Tory defeat. But then apparently there's a lot we should be quaking in our boots over - Scotland/Sturgeon, Miliband, coalition... Pah. These fools shoulda been there for the Winnie Kingmaker days in '96. That'd toughen them up.
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Sorry (not sorry) to add to your excess baggage - it really is a killer tune. A great night out and a cracking account of it. A wonderful perspective on the mighty SE15.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Wellies not required, in reply to Russell Brown,
Cheers for the link, Mr B. With more than 100 stages, big and small, Glastonbury festival-goers really are spoiled for choice - every year I'd say about 50% of our highlights turn out to be things that hadn't even been on our radar when attempting to plan some semblance of a schedule going in. I think my ultimate highlight this year was the very last act we saw, a New Orleans-style band from London called Tankus the Henge, which we stumbled across (literally) at 5am on Monday. Thirty happy and tired strangers, arm in arm, yelling along with a top-hatted piano player in a tiny tent - you just can't beat that.
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Hard News: The Language of Climate, in reply to Caleb D'Anvers,
Not only is there a lack of joined up thinking, it’s handily combined with that old chestnut, short-sighted government policy (is there any other kind here right now?), such as the Tory’s exemption of maize cultivation from soil conservation measures, leading to widespread soil erosion and surface water run-off, meaning even worse flooding. Hurrah!
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Hard News: MySplore, in reply to Russell Brown,
Mine too! As you say, the way J Star bounced around the Sleng Teng was a thing of great beauty and genius - it goes down as one of the great "yeeeeahh!"s of all time. The pleasure, the privilege was ours... :)
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It was great to party and swim with you, Mr Brown - that J Star set will remain one of my highlight memories (albeit a little fuzzy by that time) for a long time. Once again, Splore was a top weekend - congratulations to Amanda and her crew.
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Public Trough.
Bindun?