Welcome to Literary Friction. I'm Octavia Bright, coming to you from lockdown London and connected via the magnificent power of

technology with my wonderful co-host and dear friend Carrie Plitt, who's beaming in from Oxford,

and who I miss terribly, and I feel like these intros have got longer and more florid the longer it's

been since I've been able to see you in person. Hi, Carrie. How are you doing? I'm doing really well,

and I miss you too, and I also consider you a dear friend. Oh, my God. I just, do you know what? I just

said I'm doing really well. I'm not doing really well, but I'm so obviously on autopilot and happy to see you. Do you know what was really cheering actually was I was on a socially distanced walk with a friend today who listens to the show, Claire.

Hi, Claire. And she said that she has an image in her mind of us sitting in the studio together when she listens to the podcast. And even after we've

switched to internet, she still thinks of us as sitting in the studio together. That's so nice. That is so

nice. And I wish it were true. So that's what I'm going to sort of try to channel during this

recording. But it's interesting. They have lifted some restrictions in the UK now,

and we can now go on socially distance walks with friends. And I thought that was going to be this

immense relief. And it's been really lovely to see some of my friends who I haven't seen in a long time.

But I don't know if it's been a relief. It's been almost warying in a weird way.

Do you feel that at all?

I do.

It's really, it's frustrating.

It's a bit like the marshmallow test, you know?

Like they're in front of you.

But then not being able to touch one another and having to maintain this physical distance,

when it's, especially when you're faced with someone who you're used to being physically intimate with and who you haven't seen

for so long, you know, overriding that instinct to wrap your arms around somebody, it can feel

kind of cold almost. And it's not enough, right? It's just, it's not enough. Yeah. And it's confusing too because you don't have a hug at the beginning or end of the time that you're spending with each other.

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