Five times 15.
Wow.
I just wanted to take a moment to sit and think about what Teresa had to say.
And I have to say, I was quite nervous about doing this.
I'm a debut author.
I.
For many, many years,
my role at events like this would be to stand somewhere in the back where no one could see me,
keeping an eye on things, watching out for people like John,
who would cause all sorts of problems for the politicians I was working for,
and listening to prominent people deliver words that I had written with them,
or, more accurately, for them.
And so to be here, standing here, is an unusual turn of events in my life.
And so if I stumble, it's because I'm a little nervous.
But anyway, I want to begin by taking you back to January 2021, to the early stages of the pandemic.
The north of England where I was living was blanketed by snow, including my house,
which is in a very isolated spot where I'd moved to be close to my parents.
Most days, as you can tell, the sky could barely be distinguished from the land.
It was either gray and leaden or blue and ethereal and empty.
And I had the feeling, unlike Herbie, that I had been cut off from what I absolutely loved doing.