Henry is a photographer, living with his two sons and their dog.
“I feel that as much shadow as this unseen threat has loomed above us, there are actually many positive sides to where we find ourselves; our species does seem to band together under the threat of a common enemy and despite the anomalies of loo roll scarcity and such, there are so many examples of it bringing a much nicer side out in all of us.
I feel personally blessed as my mother moved nearby at the end of February from Wimbledon, which has meant that I am able to help her regularly with groceries and medications She’s safe and close at hand which I know everyone would understand is a great relief for me as the youngest of her four children.
My father and step-mother live in Maidstone and are lucky to live with my younger sister and her family so they’re all hunkered down together, and the rest of us are using technology to remain intimate.
We adopted Archie our Border Collie in November last year, and what initially seemed as quite an undertaking to take a dog out everyday for has since become an escape to stretch our legs, and however nice it is to walk in the sunshine, it is actually the more overcast and rainy days that I prefer, in wellies and raincoats for enjoying the solitude that we are so blessed with here in Enfield.
Between my two sons, my ex-wife and I had a daughter and sadly she was dead at birth. It’s surprising the comfort you feel when you discover that other people know your pain, not that you want other people to have suffered, but to know that you are not alone. We are such empathetic creatures, it’s truly the source of our strength as a collective.
I don’t expect that much, if any of the bonhomie will last beyond this current lockdown once life eventually returns to the next normal, but after the divisions of the last few years and feeling so eclipsed by Brexit and the linear divide it cut through our nation, it is perhaps exactly what the doctor ordered – if only we can survive the virus itself and live to tell the tale.”
