In general, there has been a bit of a feeling that things are heading South. It was only at the start of this week that our work told us to take our laptops home with us every night, just in case we needed to work from home because of the Coronavirus pandemic. (And indeed it is a pandemic, the World Health Organisation said so.)

Today we were told to work from home, starting tomorrow, for the foreseeable future.

So, with the knowledge that I wasn’t going to see my fellow workers in the next few months, except on video calls, I found myself going towards the Southside of Glasgow, and Category is Books for a talk by Juno Roche on their new book “Trans Power“.

The shop was about as full as it could be. I recognised a few folx from the queer community including A.R. Crow and Teddy Hope. The book talk was interesting in and of itself, but one message from Juno stood out: that we all have a window of opportunity to make the world a better place. We all have a chance to explore things about ourselves before the rules get set in stone, and indeed that exploration will influence what rules get set.

After the talk some of use went around the corner to The Rum Shack for a quick blether, knowing that this was probably the last time for months that we would be able to do this. We talked about everything trans, non-binary, and suchlike. There was a feeling of demob: the feeling of: anything goes. Because anything in this atmosphere could go, at any moment.

Eventually, I left with A.R. Crow, to get the late train from Queens Park to Glasgow Central. During the train ride, I remarked to Crow: “This increased handwashing is making the front of my hands hurt.”

We left the train in Central. And we hugged, and even that felt dangerous. Even though we knew it was probably the last time we could do it for a while. It felt dangerous, but we still did it.

Then we said goodbye, and I walked towards Dennistoun. I turned up in my home, and went towards bed, and fell asleep wondering what tomorrow would bring.