Life Beyond Zoom

EARLY SPRING

T B really H. It’s bleak. Life. Lockdown. London. The view. Zoom.

I stare out of the window, while I listen to the teacher. OK, it’s a great view – if you like concrete, canals, shopping trolleys and railway lines … even the graffiti is boring: same tags, same colours, same style. The sun is going down so there are some pink streaks – they’re nice.

Mum is chatting away in her room next door. She’s doing OK with it. I think she prefers her slippers to stilettos but I’ve lost count of how many lockdowns we have had now. She’ll be zooming for hours – she loves all new technology. ‘It’s our future,’ she says.

There are so many windows out there, so many computer screens lighting up small boxes containing people who just sit there. Is this it … for ever?

I’m out of here.

The street is beyond quiet. The cool air feels good.

Rusting cars with no tyres line the road – someone stole every single tyre one night. Someone desperate, probably, as not many people have a job now or need to use their cars.

The street lamp