Unreal life

Some people are documenting the abnormality of daily life under lockdown through the medium of photography. Others are doing so through words. There can't be too many doing both, let alone doing both as adeptly as Jon Pountney. Here's a choice passage from his diary: "Within an empty human environment of streets and houses staring glassily on, traces of people become strangely poignant. Randomly rejected shoes, jackets and even litter become important moments in a landscape seemingly abandoned. I’ve started walking the back lanes, where litter lingers, and people are less precious about presentation; these hinterlands reveal a hundred tiny stories about lockdown. Snatches of conversation, news bulletins and music mingle and reassure. There are still people here. But they just can’t be seen."