My name is Bobby Seal and this has been my blog for over eight years. I use psychogeography as a tool to interrogate urban and rural landscapes and a range of artistic responses to such places. I work from home and share a house with a frontline NHS employee and, by the nature of her work, we are resigned to the fact that she will catch the COVID-19 virus sooner or later. Equally, it is likely that I will catch it too.

Other than my wife’s essential work and her home to work travel, we are both now self-isolating, in effect acting as if we already have the virus. We are doing this to protect our family, friends, neighbours and people in general, particularly the more vulnerable members of our community.

It saddens me that, for the time being, I can no longer spend time with family and friends. Nor can I do many of the things I enjoy: going to the theatre, cinema, libraries, exhibitions and live music. I have had to put my voluntary work on hold to protect my colleagues and our clients and may even have to end my morning run, despite the streets being pretty empty at the time I go out.

The Flow of Time is project which excites me. I started it a month ago and it is due to continue for a year in total. However, central to the project is a week-by-week photographic record of a particular place, a bend in the river, and the thoughts and feelings that visiting this place provoke in me. However, to reach this quiet bend in the river, whichever direction I approach it from, I  have to pass through often quite crowded public outdoor spaces. With sadness, but to help protect others, I have decided to suspend this project for the foreseeable future.

The Flow of Time will, however, continue in another form in the next few days, so please keep visiting my blog to catch up on how that is going. In the meantime, if you or any member of your household has any potential COVID-19 symptoms or are you  in one of the vulnerable groups, as defined by our NHS, please exercise strict self-isolation. Meanwhile, everyone else needs to practicing stringent social distancing.

Let’s all look out for each other. Keep healthy and keep safe. With love.