20 January 2021
My New Statesman tote bag was a symbol of hope and belonging, and then it almost killed me
Ah, the irony! That I should be immolated by a bag advertising the very magazine that employs me!
How long have you been locked down for? I mean, when was the last time you left your home? I left two days ago, to go to Waitrose. I checked my watch before I left and checked it when I got back and I found I’d been gone for 13 minutes. It wasn’t a Big Shop, but then as I have only the one reusable bag, I can’t really do a Big Shop. It’s a tote from the 14th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, and I have it not because I ever went near the 14th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, but because the lady who sent me the binoculars (see “Down and Out”, 28 October) used it as part of the packaging. Until then, I had been using a larger bag, and I’d like to think that it is the most triumphantly middle-class thing I have ever used: my very own