“What are you doing this weekend?” It feels like a phrase from a bygone age. An age when weekdays and weekends had a clear distinction. When we wore different clothes and time at home was precious. Now every day is “dress down” and time at home is all we have.
So whereas we once contemplated a weekend filled with galleries, concerts, fine dining and friends, (or at least the option to do so, even if the reality was much more mundane), the best we can hope for is a change of scene from work station to garden, or computer screen to Netflix.
This weekend was supposed to be our Big Weekend. Thanks to Covid-19 it is going to be a lot smaller than planned. At a time when our country rambles are reduced to a walk no more than 2k from your house; our gallery tours are virtual and our fine dining is reduced to cobbling the random items in your fridge into something vaguely edible (something I challenge even Heston Blumenthal to master!); it is not surprising that our thoughts turn to great weekends of the past and future possibilities.
So we are taking an unashamed trip down memory lane. We are sharing pictures across our channels from years when the Big Weekend was just that - BIG! We are wallowing in the memories of the great attractions which have generously opened their doors to our residents and turned them in to the greatest tourist ambassadors we could ask for.
And we promise you this. Big Weekend will be back – bigger and stronger than ever. When this is over, we will never again take our weekends for granted. We will fill them with culture and friends and fine dining and laughter and, yes, eventually, Netflix and supermarkets and cleaning the loo. And we will celebrate our great industry and its return with a bang with the Biggest Big Weekend ever!