I was on my second trip to Hastings this week to my favourite haunt, Trinity Wholefoods, to stock up on essentials like organic wine… Oh whoops that rapidly slipped off my fingers onto the keypad! To be fair, I also needed basic food such as lentils, oats, spinach and apples. But I digress…
What struck me today about this image as I passed it on the prom is how apt it is in our current situation. Last year there was a project in the St Leonards Festival called A Town Explores a Book: Robinson Crusoe.
Local artists created installations and paintings around St Leonard’s using elements of the story. The park was quite taken over for a few weeks with maps on posts, a chalk maze in the grass and papier mache figures stuck in flower beds. Then there were depictions on walls, like this one painted in the alcove above one of the benches next to Goats Ledge cafe.
It reminded me of our common predicament. We, like Crusoe, are stranded not only on the Island of Great Britain (for we can’t leave even if we wanted to) but individually on our own lockdown Island. Not a reality TV show. Actual Reality. Of course we can move about but only on a restricted basis. We can take our dog/child/partner (Crusoe had a goat, parrot and dog!) for a walk but, careful, Big Brother may be watching!
We are indeed stranded on the shore of uncertainty. I wonder who’s going to rescue us?