Every spring, my local group of translators (the ITI WRG) organises a bluebell walk in the Forest of Dean. By association, whenever I look at the bluebells that have found their way into my garden at the foot of the rowan tree, I always think of my wonderful colleagues.
Of course, this year, given the pandemic situation, the walk and our other social and professional activities have had to be cancelled. Translators are used to work alone from home, so you could say we are expert at self-isolating (who knew this could be a skill!). But come the evening and the weekend, when others go home feeling peopled out, we desperately want to go out and catch up with friends, colleagues, and the world in general as much as possible. And as our clients are affected by the downtime, so are we.
As I sit in my garden, enjoying the lovely weather while waiting for this quiet and distressing episode to pass, I have a thought for our community of 80 or so talented linguists and hope everyone is well and safe, and look forward to catching up in person with you all soon!
