Many of us in local government have been working remotely, solving some of the most challenging situations of our careers while sat in our front rooms with cockpit pilot-looking headsets on. The occasional absurd situation arises. Trying to keep the teenage son from walking into shot in his boxer shorts while organising a dignified funeral cortege for a respected person in the community figures quite high in the moments of my anxiety shooting temporally through the roof. Thankfully the discovery of artificial backdrops has partly resolved this and everyone I now speak with thinks that I live in a minimalist white box overlooking a dramatic city skyline. It's become clear to me that there is no 'business as usual' once this is over. How can it be? Our communities and staff have been hugely impacted by illness, bereavement, economic damage and stress as the very real shock sinks in that this has 'actually happened in our lifetime'. Who would ever imagined this as we rang in the 2020 New Year?
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