The Fifth Horseman

 

 

 I walked home from Hackney today, trying to think what Friday's Quiz would be about.

 

 The morning had been spent filming with old colleagues from The Crystal Maze, playing imaginary friends in costumes from Sophie Cochevelou, covered with toy cars and Mr. Men. It was lovely to catch up.

 Our old Maze costumes would have been hanging up, unwashed, on the top floor of the Trocadero for a year by now. I had no idea what to make the quiz about, or indeed today's post. The canal by Victoria Park was fenced off and drained for some reason. But these aren't pictures of that.

 

   These are pictures I took of a walk last Wednesday, March the 3rd, listening to a podcast about Chupucabra in the mist. I'll probably do a film-related round. A fortnight ago, the news was full of Mars. Sometimes when I write a blog, I look for the thing I've left out, and then put that down, and delete the rest. Sometimes it's not about finding a focus though, but providing a space.

 

 Nothing on the blog's been received more gratefully than my records of late night walks, so that's why I'm finally posting them, in place of another black square. I don't know if they're really what's wanted. I could always ask. This seems the place to do it. I just don't want to leave Sarah Everard un-named on here.

 

 And I don't want to leave unacknowledged the fact that the hopelessness voiced after her nightmarish abduction and murder – possibly by a police officer – has to do with more than just walking home alone, or being out after dark, but with sharing any space, any time, with the daily terrorism of men – heroes of their own story, keepers of the law. Top billed.

 

  And I want to acknowledge the hopelessness – both perceived and experienced – of reporting these acts of terror. Changing that is something to hope for at least, and demand, for a start. Actionable, structural change. "Inequality" seems too tiny word for a whole reality. I know what a person needs, because I have it. But it's mine, and I don't know how to give it. Again, I could always ask. And this might be the place to do that. And thank you for your company. Really, how are you doing?