Last year around this time I was cheerfully writing about the great upcoming art exhibitions, dance concerts and plays scheduled for the spring: paintings at the UA’s Joseph Gross gallery by a talented young Liberian refugee; a modern dance in Reid Park by the up-and-coming Hawkinsdance troupe; and an Irish play by acclaimed playwright Martin McDonagh at the Rogue Theatre.
I didn’t see any of them. They were all shut down by the coronavirus pandemic.
Things are getting better now, we hope. The vaccine has arrived and this miracle drug just may bring us back to life eventually.
From sofa to safari: the rise of virtual travel Rosie Fitzmaurice
It’s 2pm on a snowy Sunday - but before partaking in a snowball fight in the park, I’m off to the Bahamas to swim with hammerhead sharks. Why not?
Not really, obviously. But with IRL travel off the agenda for now - my solution, which involves a VR headset, is the next best thing. In fact, trips are booming - as locked down Londoners desperately search for new ways to keep ourselves entertained.
“VR travel can provide unique experiences that are nearly impossible in the real world,” says Kaitlyn Mullin, senior immersive producer and VR travel guru at National Geographic. “For example, the opportunity to visit a normally heavily trafficked site, like Machu Picchu, when it is completely empty, or to safely have a face-to-face encounter with a wild lion.”