Prologue
Only 8 photos allowed to capture a time or a place...
When news began to filter through to the West of the lockdowns in Wuhan at the beginning of 2020 it was hard to understand the apathy of those around me.
Most governments and all mainstream media were late to their posts - whether that was by design, incompetence or ignorance, I don't know.
There was no urgency, no enquiry, no clarification - simply blow your nose on disposable tissues and wash your hands and all will be fine.
I don't know what happened there but 'fine' it certainly wasn't.
But it wasn't just those with the power. Family and friends were the same.
"But Wuhan has bigger population than London." I said, "Hubei province alone has almost as many people as in the whole of the UK."
"How would you know?" They said.
"Don't you remember? I was living there, in Hubei, in 2010..."
"So? That was a decade ago? What time's the football on?"
And there the conversation ended.
For anyone who is interested, here are the people and scenes from a provincial sized city in Hubei a decade ago.
HUBEI PROVINCE 2010
Feeding the fish in the park.
The 'glamorous touristic' part of town.
Playing Mahjong in the back streets.
Returning home from the countryside fishing trip.
They loved football too...
...although you would see far more people practising Tai Chi or even dancing rather kicking a ball.
Traffic was usually horrendous and when the rains came, the waves added to the confusion.
A statue featuring the crossed fingers of Zhuge Liang -
a figure of importance during the Three Kingdoms period and
traditionally linked to the province of Hubei.
Was he crossing fingers behind his back for luck or for telling a harmless lie?
