The Distance Project 14

I had a letter recently, asking me to take part in a study into Covid-19; I had been selected randomly. I accepted at once, and a test kit arrived on Saturday.

The letter with the test kit said:

“Thank you for registering to take part in the in-home coronavirus antibody testing research study, which is being conducted by Imperial College London and Ipsos MORI, an independant research organisation, on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

“This study will help the government understand how many people in England may have already been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 and to help develop its approach to COVID-19 antibody testing.”

On Tuesday I followed the instructions and did the test. To find out what happened, read on…

Approaching the Centre:MK shopping centre, a woman and child already have their masks on.

The Distance Project 13

I had a book to collect, so I drove up to Central Milton Keynes, with my mask and some book tokens.  New rules about wearing a face covering or mask had come in on the 24th of July, four days earlier. Shop workers are not required to cover their faces, but sometimes they do.

Like the majority of people there, I wore my mask all the time I was in the shopping centre. We are required to do so under the rules.

By the way, some bookshops will accept book tokens on their websites; I ordered another book online and it arrived today, paid for by book tokens. Also, Waterstones will accept their own gift cards as payment online.

It's thirteen weeks, three whole months I've been on this project, photographing what people are doing differently under lockdown. I’m just numbering the photos I show you here as I go along, and the last photo here is number 120. But I have many more photos that I’m not showing you.

Sometimes photos won’t come across well on the blog because the relevant detail can’t be shown here clearly enough; the blogging software compresses photos and they lose fine detail.

Other photos may repeat something I’ve already shown you, but they need to be kept, to preserve as complete a record as possible.

(Edited, September 2021)
This is just one of many posts from The Distance Project. That link will take you back to the very first posts, but if you want to see them in reverse order, just click on the link in the categories list that's on every page. The project ran from April 2020 to September 2021.

This family group in the Centre:MK wore a variety of face coverings. Children under 11 like this girl do not have to wear a mask.

In Winslow High Street, the painter has put these cones up to encourage people to keep some sort of distance. It’s difficult; the High Street is on a main road and the pavement isn’t very wide.

The Distance Project 12

Wednesday is market day at Winslow, in the square. They have a distancing system in place with separate entry and exits points. I parked in the High Street. As elsewhere, there’s a semblance of normality in the town.

A couple of pedestrians gave me a tip about a cluster of paintings and drawings in house windows, in a side street off Verney Road. After I had finished at the square, I drove up to see them.

(Edited, September 2021)
This is just one of many posts from The Distance Project. That link will take you back to the very first posts, but if you want to see them in reverse order, just click on the link in the categories list that's on every page. The project ran from April 2020 to September 2021.

Queueing at the Winslow deli, almost opposite the benches.

With my electro-mechanical hat on instead of my photographer’s one, I maintain and fix the machines at the Washeteria launderette in Church Street, Stony Stratford. Here, I’m checking to see that a dryer is working okay. Since the lockdown, If I work there it’ll be in the evenings, when the launderette is closed. There are no issues with distancing then; I’m on my own.

The Distance Project 11

Many of these photos of Stony Stratford were taken back in mid June, and some lockdown rules have been changed since then. There’s also some shots from my own life, to show you how I deal with social distancing.

Gin in the garden at Little Horwood.

The Distance Project 10

It’s 5 pm, and the sun is shining. Chrissie Beckett, who doesn’t like to be photographed, (see last week) has put out chairs; it’s Saturday afternoon and it’s gin o’clock.

Women from the village walk into Chrissie’s front garden and sit down. They’ve brought their own drinks, but sometimes they can be tempted to try a different gin. Chrissie is out of shot to the right, in the first two photos.

Later on that day at the Shoulder of Mutton pub, the landlord Lewis Huntington is delivering meals that customers ordered earlier.

He’s been doing this for some weeks, and delivers beer too. The beer deliveries started when he was caught with lots of beer in the pub, at the start of lockdown.

Dave Beckett sits in his back garden. and his next door neighbour Roger Ash has come to visit, bringing his own cup of tea. We have met Dave Beckett before. He was very pleased to know I remembered his dad Cyril, who was the baker in Winslow when I was a boy.

The Distance Project 9

There’s a huge amount of community spirit in the small village of Little Horwood. The villagers have pulled together to make life as pleasant as possible under lockdown. I have more photos from the village, which I'll most likely show you next week.

You can see all the other Distance Project photos on the North Bucks Wanderer here. In the project I'm photographing what people are doing differently under lockdown.

(Edited, September 2021)
This is just one of many posts from The Distance Project. That link will take you back to the very first posts, but if you want to see them in reverse order, just click on the link in the categories list that's on every page. The project ran from April 2020 to September 2021.

Chrissie Beckett, wife of Dave, has put out chairs so that villagers can come and chat while remaining at a safe distance. This is Penny Davis (left) and Karen Jones (right) Chrissie has organised quite a bit for the village, but is too modest to be in any of my photographs.