March has been a strange month. As always, it started in winter and ended in spring, but we have also transitioned with the seasons from normal life – work, trips to the botanical gardens, plans for trips to the forest and mountains this spring, and a camping trip to France for our tenth wedding anniversary this summer – to a state of lockdown which may last six months or longer. All of my work – weddings and documentaries – has been put on hold for the foreseeable future. Ed is off school and doesn’t know when he’ll go back. September? December? Who knows.
Every December as the last leaves fade to dust and the world around me descends into a frenzy of overconsumption, I dream of spring. I dream of the first day it is warm enough to go out without a coat, of longer daylight hours, and I dream of the equinox winds which freshen up the city streets. I conjure birdsong to drown out the sound of relentless 80s Christmas music, and I close my eyes to imagine the world painted pink as it is each spring.
At the start of the month Ed and I went down to Bristol to see Kevin Devine. I don’t normally take pictures at shows, as I don’t like to risk having my camera taken off me by security or having beer thrown on it by the crowd. Besides, when I go to a show I am there to listen to the music and sing along rather than take pictures. That said, this month Ed and I have been to two tiny acoustic shows and I thought it’d be fun to take my camera and capture a few stills as security is more relaxed, acoustic shows are civilised, and I don’t mind being at the front for them. I keep my shutter on silent during quiet songs and my review screen off as I know how annoying it is to have a glowing screen distract you from the stage.
I have just finished my first ideas or commonplace notebook. I started keeping an ideas notebook back at the start of December 2018 and so this first volume spans fifteen months. I have small writing, which is why I have managed to cram quite so much into such a tiny, passport sized notebook.
