Mask

On Friday it was not only my daughter's birthday and the day of the flood but also the day it became mandatory to wear face masks in shops in Scotland. The week previous Scotland's clinical director was on the radio answering questions as he does weekly when it ended with the question (paraphrasing) : Now that we have to wear face masks 3 months after lockdown are we to now hand out condoms at Christenings? No reply to that one. That about sums up my feeling to and that of some checkout staff I talked to who have spent quarter of the year dealing with the public maskless. Its not that I disagree about the move as I don't but I cannot help withing this should have been done weeks ago as soon as PPE availability allowed.

That said its also not been introduced correctly. On Friday I spoke to my brother who lives 20 miles away. He'd been to a Tesco and said everyone was wearing masks when he went in. One guy then appeared without a mask and took so much dog's abuse he left. Hardly surprising seeing its mandatory right? Not so I find it strange that we are told something is compulsory when there is no one enforcing it. In the time since the government has admired retailers are not expected to enforce it so just who is? An understaffed and underfunded police service?

I was still shocked though when we went shopping that night to find 25 to 30% of people were not wearing masks. More surprising was that about 20% of staff were not wearing masks either. Last night we shopped again and I further noted that some staff who had masks the night before were not wearing them last night. I give it a week and there will be more people not wearing masks than wearing them. There is no clear message from the Scottish government and I fear the ambiguity is going to lead to arguments and even fights in the aisles as a result. Tensions are bad enough as it is.

I personally wore a mask only because it was easier to do so than argue with someone about it. Wearing one might actually turn out to be beneficial for me from an anxiety standpoint. On Friday when I put one on I actually struggled with my breathing. Stupid I know but I genuinely f we lt short of breath to the point I told my wife I'd have to leave. I got do agitated and just wanted to rip the mask off outside. I didn't leave and finally settled. Last night I had no issues at all. It may well help me long term. I see I am holding my breath which is something I need to work on so that is at least good to be aware of. For now I'll keep mine on.