Well, hope is not lost: one of the major reasons why my attempt failed is because I asked just before the whole coronavirus business started, and by the time someone interested got back to me, then their more lukewarm boss got involved, the final reply was “Yes, interesting, but we can’t do nothing because of the virus right now. We’ll get back to you sometime.” When someone tells you that, whatever the reason, you know what it means usually…
But, you never know. When the virus thing dies down a bit more, I’ll give the door another knock.