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Four radio producers present intimate stories of people across Europe, revealing the effect of Covid 19 on their experience of touch, sight, sound, smell and taste. In a year where movement was restricted, physical contact was prevented (or fraught with risk) and screens mediated our social interactions, our new conditions for living have created new relationships with our senses.
From Italy, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Scotland and beyond, we hear individuals and communities as they try to make sense of these new circumstances, and to rebuild and redefine their relationship with the external world and the people in it.

A man in a nursing home lost the last remains of intelligible language when the outbreak of the virus lead to months of separation from his family. Now they can, once more, visit him in a tent outside the facility. Communication is not what it was, but they find that they can still connect through touch.

A sex worker considers her kissing policy…and the new risk involved in physical intimacy.

An autistic man appreciates the benefits of a quieter world when you suffer from sensory overload – and adjusts to a return to crowds and noise with the help of his own protective audio bubble – music.

A daughter recalls the precise moment her mother regained her sense of smell…and attempts to come to terms with her own germophobia.

As Europe and the world rebuilds, we hear deeply personal accounts with all the nuance of what seems like minor, daily experiences, but that are really at the heart of our humanity - connecting us to the self, family, community, society and nation.

Image credit: Wide Vercnocke