In the end we can only look back. Everyone is looking back, referring to what happened in the past, even as we read the news of those in high places discussing climate change in some place in Glasgow or is it Paris?
The man who is in the queue at the check-out in front of me is remembering that he did this last week. I am remembering the same. We are all going through the motions because we remember the past, and nobody is screaming: "Where is our future?"
I go to the school gate and everyone is chatting just as they did five years ago, ten years ago - they know how it works so they can do it. But inside they are only looking back. Even as they plan to book a holiday because they have booked a holiday before. "i thought we might go to Malta this year - that is if we get through the winter and there is no lock-down'. 'Oooh that sounds lovely. Emma" Yes it is a future plan, but it is remembering the past because Emma has booked a holiday before and it is not really the future: it is just a plan.
I can't bear thinking of the future because I am holding the hand of a little six-year-old. I can't tell her that I don't know what her future will be.
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