Although meeting on Zoom isn’t the best way
for to communicate, there are both advantages and disadvantages to this mode of
interaction.
Advantages:
- During Lockdown I have attended several AGMs
on Zoom and find them to be much more efficient and would be quite happy for
them to continue online.
- I have managed to keep in touch with the various
groups with which I am involved and, even when two groups are meeting on the
same evening, it has been easy to fit both in without having to travel and park.
- Although I am not one to stay in PJs, it is
quite acceptable to wear tracky bottoms and slippers on Zoom as long as hair is
brushed and lippy applied.
- Zoom has made it possible to see family and
friends in their own environments. No
need for a quick tidy up when there is a knock on the door or a car draws
up. A backdrop of your choice or one
from a room from a stately home is a bonus.
- I have attended some interesting and
entertaining talks from worldwide sources.
These are often recorded and uploaded to YouTube to view at your
convenience.
Disadvantages:
- No communal eating. I am a firm believer in those who eat
together stay together.
- No hugs or kisses
- No opportunity to dress up in your glad rags,
although I have worn a variety of hats to suit the occasion.
- I know that there are many successful online
choirs, but I’ve never managed a good, coordinated rendition of Happy Birthday
- Less moving around has
resulted in additional weight gain
Leeds LitFest 2021
The latest online events I have attended
were from Leeds LitFest which took place
2nd – 7th March.
I selected the following events and enjoyed each one enormously.
A Literary Quiz with quizmaster Gary
Wigglesworth author of The Book Lover's Quiz Book (which would make a nice gift for a book loving friend). Questions were on first lines, characters etc Most enjoyable but not my finest hour.
I had just read a couple of novels by Peter James a UK
No.1 best-selling crime and thriller author. He told us how he got into writing and how he shadowed police on their callouts for research purposes. The TV series Grace, adapted from his novels about Roy Grace, is due to air on ITV on Sunday 14th March at 8 pm.
Salon with Clare Fisher gave us poetry writers/authors from and near Leeds including Rachel Bower, Cherie Baptiste-Taylor, Sarah Perry Poet, (novelist and short story
writer), Kayo Chingonyi, Kimberly Campanello and Sarah Dawson who is studying failure in contemporary experimental poetry performance at the University of Leeds. The poems she read out were written in universal phonetics.
These performances may well be found on YouTube.
How do you feel about Zoom-type encounters?
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