bit in between Xmas and New Year

Today I met up with Mario, at my flat, to check in after Christmas and see what’s been done and what needs doing for my show, and generally run through things.  This is really helpful, particularly as the break for Xmas and New Year is really fragmenting and also that living/working on my own things mooch around in my head; so it’s helpful to get them verbalised.  My main problem, it gradually dawned on me, is that a week ago I hurt my knee and I am still unable to walk properly, only very slowly if it’s over any distance.  This has made me really aware of what it must be like for older people, and aware of how I relate to distance, and speed and amenities.  For instance, I can’t go to the laundrette or the supermarket, and it takes ages to walk anywhere.  I feel trapped in my body.  So it’s hard to run around to get things.  But Mario assured me that with the ethos of Showflat we will be able to overcome this problem as everyone will help out with practical stuff if necessary. Phew. And today we managed to make good progress without leaving the flat anyway, just using stuff I already have.  Mario and I discussed council housing and social housing generally, and the general decline in support for such housing.  Is this because everyone believes in buying a house, and consuming generally, and that they will be wealthy, even if they aren’t?  So council housing is irrelevant… And yet there’s a kind of resentment of it as ’something for nothing’ at the same time as a rejection of it as scummy and broken.  We also discussed the lack of voice of  ‘marginal’ people (by definition), e.g. people who are attending crap colleges.