This article is brought to you by @roganx4! They didn't sponsor this, I just like them a whole lot.
So- where's your home? Do you live with your family or alone? Do you have housemates? A partner? Maybe a dog or a cat? Maybe a monitor lizard?
I've always thought a lot about people's home lives. Part of that nosiness comes from years of watching British TV shows like "Homes under the Hammer" and "Grand Designs" which seem almost criminally invasive into the household of arrangements of many different folks. Indeed, even British tabloids like the Metro include long pieces about homes folks are renting in the London area.
If I were to classify what having a "home" meant, I imagine I'd give a definition such as "a permanent living arrangement that is a comfortable and safe place to live." Indeed, I classify a lot of people who would be considered "homeless" to have homes.
For example, the Traveller community of Britain (One which has been persecuted mercilessly by local governments and police forces across the UK) has caravans and other moving homes. Why would they be homeless? Because they haven't rooted down to a depressing flat or terraced house like most working class folks have?
I think it's more apparent to me than ever that home is to do with comfort and safety- something which many people have found themselves doing wothout during the pandemic. For me, I had to give up my own inner city flat to head back to my parents home. I feel safe, and comfortable, but it certainly isn't conducive to my work as an artist and creative.
So, in a lot of ways my parents home is a node- a beacon in the grand fog of nothingness that the Metro sails through. And, although I'll be spending a good amount of time there, no doubt I' be back to the neighbourhoods on the Tyne which I love so much.
The Metro stops running at 6pm, nowadays, so my work is naturally cut short to avoid a situation where I am stranded without mercy at one of the stops on the train. In this way, I'm almost forced to retreat back to home, no matter how much work is left to do. No, my life is directed by a mysterious cabal of train operators which simply demand not to run the trains after 6pm.
As a freelancer, my work teeters in the balance. I have to go to the studio to produce my work, but the UK government has failed to protect people's abilities to just stay home. Where it's comfortable and safe and we could handle the trauma of the pandemic in our own spaces.
But, we have to work, so I have to make consessions to produce enough of an income so I can have my own home again. And where I happen to be right now is my Metro stop, so I suppose I'll leave this post here.
Again, sorry for any spelling mistakes. I only get exactly 36 minutes to produce this post, so consessions in quality do get made in exchange for a lengthier post.
I'll be seeing you again on Monday, so please stay well and be with the ones you love. I'll see you then.