Fi Glover presents the weekly edition of the programme on the shared experience of being in lockdown and emerging from it. This week friends and strangers share stories on subjects as varied as having hopes and aspirations for a career in the theatre being dashed by Covid 19; friends from different racial backgrounds living in Wales talk about the importance of talking about race; and friends in Manchester reflect on their time on the streets and the challenges of homelessness during lockdown; and sisters aged 12 and 14 talk about the challenges of going back to school as well as being carers for their Dad who has ME, arthritis and Fibromyalgia, and as well as helping their profoundly deaf Mum and looking after a younger sister.

The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moments of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in this decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject

Producer: Mohini Patel