Saturday, June 11

I had a very restless night, partly because of the humid heat in the room, and partly because I woke up every forty five minutes thinking of things I should say today.

I walked to Access Space at about 8:20, met Jake, and started helping set everything up. At about 9:40 Brendan Jackson arrived, followed closely by Steve Thompson. By 10:15 there were about twenty people. Since Sheffield is filled with activities and events today, from Doc Fest to a free rock festival and several community fairs, this is deemed an excellent turnout.

Alison and Gerri were there. Alison had an original paperback of the Culture & Democracy manifesto with her. She had been at the conference as a young student. The historical book, they said, is almost finished. It will go to the publishers at the start of next month.

At 10:30 I began my talk, and this lasted just over an hour. We then had an hour’s discussion followed by a lunch of handmade sandwiches. Vegan, kosher, gluten-free, low sodium options were available.

We spent the afternoon discussing in groups and, somewhat to my surprise, by 16:00 we had an action plan with volunteers and a timetable. Among other things we are going to type up an updated version pf the manifesto as a streamed performance during a makers’ festival in November.

Now the day is over. The Access Space building has been cleaned and tidied and I am walking over the road to the Rutland Arms with Brendan and Steve. Jake and Monica will join us and we will talk of many things including Brexit and the peculiar nature of corruption in Belarus. We will also talk about the excitement and perils of moving from home brewing to home stills.

I will be fifty metres from the hotel when the downpour starts. I will find Person of Interest on one of the 3,000 available cable channels, watch four episodes, and fall asleep paranoid.