Zooming Along

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?