Reflecting on Place

Gallivanting again, this time to visit a friend and see a bit of Salisbury Festival together. Serious rain washed out our picnic but we sheltered in the cathedral cloisters.

Serious rain also threatened to wash out Avant Garde Dance's performance of S.C.R.U.M. on the roof of a car park but we were reprieved. It portrays a dystopian 2030 where creative expression has been banned. It feels alien but we imagine that such repression couldn't happen here at our peril. A few months ago we'd never have believed that our government would deport to Rwanda Afghans similarly banned from dancing in what ought to be their home.

We later listened to journalist, Anita Sethi, talking about her book, 'I Belong Here' which she wrote after racist abuse on a train across the Pennines led her to walk the Pennine Way to reflect on place, belonging, nature, identity and her right to travel freely.

It was odd that the festival had chosen to add a white male 'interviewer' to the event - she is more than capable of talking without an intermediary.