The Covid period of 2020 into 2021, was a time in our lives most of us will never forget. From nowhere, normal was turned on its head, and we adapted to being confined and restricted. Our movements and activities were monitored and observed. My intuition tells me that we are still dealing with the trauma of those years and the longer term impact has yet to be assessed or written about.

I spent Covid in France - up a goat track in the Southern Ardeche. It’s a sparsely populated and mountainous area of cold winters and hot summers. Historically the poorest department in France and famous for its resistance spirit during World War II, it’s an unusual place to live. You need to be hardy and independent to endure its solitude and isolation. If you can live for three years in the Ardeche without cracking, you can live there always.

I was at home in the landscape of green chestnuts and cherry trees and having wild boar as my neighbours. When Covid came, my community was courageous and compassionate and bloody minded. We worked around the rules with humour and imagination. I was sick once during that time and was reminded of it recently when I had another bout of the same fever. I made a short video about my memories of that time. A song called “danser encore” rang out across France. In cafes and markets. We sang it in Chambonas by the river. What comrades we were. What comrades we are. Keep on dancing everyone - because the spirit of fire remains active in your bones when you shimmy and shake to songs of liberty.