I had a friend round last night, ‘cos we can do that now, right?
We sat at opposite sides of my living room, gazing lovingly at each other’s faces that were so refreshing and nourishing to see in actual 3D, spraying hand sanitiser liberally, and catching up about our experiences of the weirdest 3 months of our and everyone’s lives.
It was overwhelming to have someone in the house. My partner had let her in so when I came downstairs she was already there, beaming up at me – I went to hug her instinctively and she sprang back and I remembered, of course, we don’t do that anymore…
Over a few drinks we went back and forth – we’d adapted to lockdown, it would actually be hard be come out in some ways, wasn’t it odd to be in someones else house right now! But we’d also missed our friends and family painfully, my brother 20 mins away on the train, normally practically a neighbour, was suddenly as far out of my reach as my father in Cornwall, or his partner in South Africa…And of course the festivals we usually work and could only mourn the loss of, Glastonbury, End of the Road, Trufest…those larger than life communities the memories of which lasted many years beyond the long weekends we spent there.
And then… And then!
I started to show and play her the art for our online exhibition about Greenham (now officially called GreenhamWomen.digital, you heard it here first!), the songs from the Greenham songbook performed for us by Jenny and Flo Crowe, Christina Li, Carleen Anderson, Frankie Armstrong and Peggy Seeger; the illustrations bringing together dragons, rainbows, handcuffs and bolt cutters; the short scenes written and voiced by wonderful actors, many of them Greenham Women themselves, bringing to life moments from the camp.
And we sat and imagined it all coming together, and we started to share ideas about other plans and schemes for celebrating the movement for its 40th birthday in 2021, and everything felt joined up again. Our past working together on feminist projects, the exploits that feminists have been through in history, the collaborations and celebrations and tribulations that we would face together as women and humans soon and later. And we felt we had such a lot of what we needed in the friendships we have built, what we need for ourselves, each other and our worlds, because actually everything is connected.
She also brought me the most kick-ass pair of wings – aren’t they brilliant? Because if we learnt one thing from Greenham, it’s that you can’t keep determined women down. We rise!
