I’m sitting up in bed with my laptop in its place. Close to the sea, our windows get encrusted with salt. Distant magnolia behind blobs of sand and cobwebs mean it’s early summer. The ivy has claimed a third of my view, dark sinews clutching the glass. A piece even steals through the corner of the frame. When I’m not …

Much has been made of the new normal. The term is enjoying a resurgence (was it ever desurged, or unsurged) in coverage of the Covid-19 international year-long shitshow meets clusterfuck, for which those two delicious swearwords were probably invented. The worst of humanity and the best of humanity go from smooch-dancing to ignoring each other on a dancefloor of shit …