The sun beat down on Dylan Quinn on Wednesday of last week as he sketched out the 954 boxes (last week) from Darling Street to East Bridge Street to signify how long we have been without an Executive at Stormont.

Dylan laughed as he pointed out his process was slow, saying “so many people are stopping to ask what I’m doing”. Many well-wishers stopped Dylan; young children hopped along the hopscotch as Dylan drew it out.

Former teacher Toni Johnson from Enniskillen stopped with Dylan and said to the Impartial Reporter that Dylan “deserves a medal for everything he is doing.” She praised Mr. Quinn’s tenacity, remarking “at least he’s doing something.” She praised Dylan for his creative thinking and remarked “everything he does is so unique and really stands out”.

The atmosphere was positive with members of the public stopping to shake Dylan’s hand. One man who wished not to be named said, “I wish I had the back for it” remarking on Dylan’s task of hand drawing each box and writing out the numbers 1 – 954. Sally Rees from Enniskillen praised Dylan’s use of “art as activism”. She clarified her point by saying, “people wouldn’t be stopping on the street having conversations unless the hop scotch was present”. Mrs Rees went on to say, the art present “is allowing us to start the conversations that will allow people to engage in democracy”. She praised the use of the hopscotch saying “it’s shocking to actually see the numbers right in front of you and realise the extent of it all”.

She expressed anger at the current political climate stating: “It’s a disgrace that a year on Northern Ireland is still lagging behind on issues of rights and equality.” She particularly highlighted the delay that Northern Ireland is facing with women’s rights. “It’s been 954 days and no one is doing anything.”

Trisha Moore made reference to the breaking news that Boris Johnson was calling for a suspension to the House of Common saying: “Well Boris isn’t going to be much help now, is he?” when she was asked about whether or not she could see Stormont being restored in the near future. She expressed her anger at the state of the country saying: “The whole country is crumbling down around us and no one is doing anything about it.”

Zara Cooke whilst out on her lunch break commented: “It’s ridiculous that they (MLAs) aren’t back to work yet. I’ve a job and I’d like to do nothing and get paid for it. If it was anyone else not turning up to work, we’d be sacked.” When asked what she thought of Dylan’s hopstoch along the main street in Enniskillen she said firmly, “it’ll do no harm, at least he’s doing something.”