Summer 2020

It’s the middle of July. Things are not as they should be.

I’ve lost track of the number of places I should have been that I haven’t been. Late nights are now in front of Netflix instead of at a load out. PPE no longer means hi vis and steelies but a mask and hand sanitiser. Perfect fields have become empty ones where my dog can run amok rather than ones filled with event goers.

I’ve had many conversations with friends and colleagues for whom lockdown has prompted a bit of a crisis of faith and many are considering whether they want to continue down the same path when things get back to ‘normal’. I get it. But for me, it’s had the opposite effect. I have missed what I do more than I could ever have imagined. Sure, there are days (and many of them) when I want to tear my hair out – and they’re the one thing that lockdown hasn’t done away with very successfully – but there is so much more that I love and miss.

I miss that clatter of mojo that makes it impossible to hold a conversation.

I miss the endless chorus of “what time’s lunch?”

I miss watching the first case roll off the back of a truck.

I miss the reunion hugs with people I haven’t seen for weeks or months or even 12 months.

I miss how things are always different, even when everything has stayed the same.

I miss the team’s celebratory fizz at the end of every show.

I miss the excited buzz as gates open and the first punters arrive.

I miss the way my ear hurts from having a radio in it for days at a time.

I miss playing my part in ensuring people have a great day out.

It’s a tough time. It’s a tough time for everyone but it’s tough in its own unique way for everyone who works in this industry. What we do is what people are desperate to get back to – days out, nights out; memories with friends, memories with family – and yet it still seems a long way away. But out of this period of down time will come a surge of creativity. New ways for people to enjoy events. I can’t wait to see what comes next!