"Good morning. This is the Yorkshire Pudding COVID 19 update with me your genial host Yorkshire Pudding...
At six o'clock yesterday evening, Her Majesty's Government announced that travellers returning to Britain from Spain would have to go into a fourteen day quarantine. This affects anyone coming back since midnight last night. Failure to comply with the quarantine ruling may result in fines or possible imprisonment.
This regulation comes on the back of rising infection rates in several areas of Spain - including Catalonia. This growing problem has not affected The Canaries or the Balearic Islands but even so these popular holiday destinations are included in the blanket ruling for Spain.
Among those affected by the quarantine instruction will be my own son - Ian - whose week long holiday on the island of Ibiza will end today. It will be interesting to learn what sort of official quarantine advice he receives at London Stansted Airport before speeding by express train to central London.
On an entirely separate note, the government have instructed citizens to wear masks when visiting shops. This rule came in just two days ago - four months into our new COVID lives. How come it took four months for the penny to drop? It's another of those strange contradictions that seems to have characterised the fractured response of Johnson's flailing administration.
I was in "Lidl" on Friday night. There were only half a dozen other shoppers in there. Two of them were burly young men and both were unmasked. They emptied their baskets onto the checkout conveyor belt without being challenged, paid for their goods and walked out.
I noticed that there was no signage at the entrance - advising shoppers to wear masks and no shop workers offering masks to those without them. I felt like challenging the two young men but I am not as young as I used to be and I did not wish to have my nose biffed by arrogant twerps who think that the rules should not apply to them. Ideally, "Lidl" would be saying - no mask so no transaction mate! Now take a hike!
Needless to say, I was wearing a stylish bespoke mask in blue, tailored by my loving wife. She has produced over two hundred masks on her sewing machine - raising hundreds of pounds for St Luke's Hospice in southern Sheffielld.
And that's all from us here in the YPTV studio. We'll be back at midday. Bye for now."
It's just part of attitudes today. It, whatever it happens to be, only applies to other people. If you happen to be young then you are young and invincible. You may not care if you are a carrier and give it to some old person who dies. On the other hand you may be a very intelligent person working in Downing Street.
ReplyDeleteIntelligent person working in Downing Street? Do you mean the postman or the street cleaner?
DeleteNeither. They would have likely had more commons sense and integrity.
DeleteI think that shop workers have been told not to challenge people without masks in case of aggro. My daughter went back to work in her charity shop, and found that if she did say anything, middle-aged men were the worst in arguing their case for freedom not to wear masks and their language was terrible.
ReplyDeleteThe quarantine called for yesterday has left many people in a state of uncertainty, but as someone said, if you draw a line then there will be people who fall either side of it.
Where are these ignoramuses trained? There must be a big camp for them somewhere.
DeleteIbiza? How so last century. Uncool. Even then. Luckily I moved in circles so cool they wouldn't have let me been seen DEAD, never mind alive, on Ibiza.
ReplyDeleteCan't remember who relayed the tale to me but apparently you can quarantene in your own abode - so not any different from being incarcerated in total lockdown. The Rolling Stones may give one inspiration when sprinting out for a pint of milk round the corner, Title "Under cover of the night". Think cats.
My, my, you aren't one of those tut tutting on those not wearing masks, are you? I covered the subject on the day before Friday, 24th July, with both the floor manager and one of his staff in John Lewis no less. Oh did we laugh. Anyway, upshot being and for your information, shop staff will NOT enforce on customers to wear a mask. However, and I hadn't computed this, police - should they be patrolling and not succumbing to my devastating charms of persuasion - may (emphasis on MAY - not WILL) fine you a cool £100.00 on the spot if so inclined.
I can reliably report back to you that if you go shopping at ungodly hours like I did this morning, 0800 hrs, Little Tesco and Little Co-op, Ocean Village, there is no one around to breathe onto. As they will not breathe onto me. So I breathed freely.
I am not disputing a face mask's POTENTIAL merits but, let's face it, it's a chimera. It's bull. Months into this whole mind fuck masks are compulsory? I have probably said this before, if so forgive me, but those who have indeed been wearing them well before we were ordered to do so were/are the worst offenders. They don't observe, to me far more important than that snout cover, the two meter social distancing rule.
So there,
U
I don't believe that masks are entirely a "chimera" as you put it Ursula. In developed Asian countries, masks have been commonly worn during epidemics for the past twenty five years. It makes sense not to cough or sneeze in the direction of others. However, I take your point about stupid mask wearers who seem to imagine that wearing a mask dispenses with the need to keep social distancing.
DeleteP.S. There's nothing wrong with Ibiza. It's a nice island. I have been there too and the odious Michael Gove was also planning to holiday there.
You don't need a mask to NOT "cough or sneeze in the direction of others". It was manners even before Corona.
DeleteObviously there is nothing "wrong" with Ibiza. It's an island. Their image problem entirely imposed by a particular type of tourist (not that I'd classify Ian as a culprit). And then there is Mallorca, a delight. There was a time I'd not tell people (what snobs am I actually communing with?) that I'd been to Mallorca. Yet once you leave Palma, in a hire car, head out of the tourist spots up the hills, down the mountains and maybe up a tree, it's all your dreams of olives in semi shade come true. Same with Corsica; same with the South of Spain. You are never far from, what's the title, Far from the Madding Crowd. Seek and you shall find.
U
I once met a goatherd who lived in a cave to the south west of Majorca. He gave me water from his well. Incongruously, he had a thirty six inch TV in his cave. It was so nice and cool in there.
DeleteMiranda Seymour wrote a biography of Robert Graves who settled in the quiet and even desolate part of Majorca (I have never been there) after WWI in which Graves fought. Do you know this part of the island, YP?
DeleteAlan Sillitoe and Ruth Fainlight lived there in the 1950s, and met Graves.
Graves came under the influence of a strange and enigmatic lady, Laura Riding, who renounced poetry. Miranda wrote a novel about this rather witchy woman and her influence on Graves. A Majorca story.
Fascinating. Yes I have been to the place where Graves lived - Deia.
DeleteWell done your wife for producing all those masks. Did you help?
ReplyDeleteYes I did. I kept out of her way.
DeleteA friend recently sent me a short video tutorial showing how to make a no-sew mask from an old sock. Very clever, but who would want to wear old socks over their nose and mouth?
ReplyDeleteSomeone who doesn't understand the expression, "Put a sock in it!"
DeleteI want to yell at people, "Wear a fucking mask!" but so far have restrained myself. We do it to protect others. People can be asymptomatic and still spread the disease and it's not just by coughing or sneezing as Ursula seems to think but also by talking. So I could have COVID without knowing it and to protect others, I wear a mask because the world is not just about me, we all live together. I am so tired of selfish, stupid people. The mask is not 100% but it helps. If everyone did their bit to help, the health care system wouldn't be so overloaded at once. It's called altruism. Pigeons have it, people should be able to do it too.
ReplyDelete(Sound of thunderous applause and "Go Lily!" chanting from the YPTV audience)
DeleteLilycedar and others, please read:
Delete*Unmasking America's Counterfeit Christianity*: Dr. James F McGrath on the Patheos website. 18 July 2020.
Dr. McGrath is a brilliant New Testament scholar who wears his learning lightly, enjoys Doctor Who and sci-fi, and has no time for Fundamentalists.
He argues that wearing the mask is something we can do for others, *It's such a low bar for denying oneself ... a small act of solidarity.*
I have been following Dr. McGrath's blogs and find he has so many thoughtful things to say about America today and the world of Late Antiquity into which his faith was born. I gasp in wonder at his scholarship, humour, and questing mind.
Interesting John. I was just thinking...if people are questioning the efficacy of wearing masks then why don't we tell surgeons, nurses and dentists not to bother with them either?
DeleteWhy are people so loathe to do such a simple thing like wearing a mask?
ReplyDeleteFoolishly, they probably think that their personal freedom is being impinged upon. Another reason is that they are morons.
DeleteThe Welsh government has questioned the success of masks but I'm my experienced view, they are totally vital and should be worn BY ALL
DeleteThey are visual reminders to social distance and to be careful TOO
Masks on their own are not a solution but they contribute to the suppression of infections. It is just so blatantly obvious.
DeleteNot by ALL, John. Children are exempt. As are people with certain health conditions. Which is why I'd advise those of your readers, YP, who call people "morons" to hold their horses and check their facts before admonishing others.
DeleteNeither, John, as you claim, maybe depends where you live, are masks visual reminders. As I outlined earlier, in my experience, and that I DO find shocking, it appears to make people think they are "safe". Bingo, social distancing goes out of the window. That, to my mind, is the true disgrace.
U
Okay there are exceptions but in my opinion, based on my experience of life, most refusers are indeed morons. We live in a society.
DeleteChildren in my mind should we're masks unless it causes them distress
DeleteNothing more able to spread a virus than a snotty kid
Little cannons of virus .
Those that cannot wear masks should shield themselves by not going out if possible
This is not rocket science
Sorry, John, I do not wish to aggravate. Clarifying has always been more important to me than being popular.
DeleteIn reply to your last comment: You clearly do know little about young children. Let's leave aside that some are averse to even a sunhat (pulling it off), how do you explain to a very young child that it needs to have its snout covered? How? Bogeyman will come and get you? Surely not. But hey, let's grow the frightened, suspicious and claustrophobic early.
"Snotty" kid? Well, my dear John, if your nose was blocked (regardless of age) the last thing you'd like to wear is a mask covering that nose. Anyway, it's summer. So don't know where your idea of snotty comes from.
"Little canons of virus"? Are you sure you are not catastrophizing?
Importantly (to me) you did not pick up on my point that as soon as lock down was loosened the very ones WEARING a mask were the most likely to NOT observe social distancing. Now that everyone has to wear a mask before entering a shop it's a free for all. Arm's length - should you be so lucky. It's the thoughtlessness which is disheartening. The herd mentality.
And lastly, before you wish I'd drop dead, your comment ("shield themselves") perpetuates the myth that we are protecting OURSELVES by wearing masks or, as you suggest, not going out. Not so. We are protecting OTHERS should we be asymptomatic carriers. And that is a social responsibility not to be shirked.
Lastly, and forgive me the side dig, please do refrain from using the so worn "it's not rocket science". Exactly. Doesn't stop people from muddling causation and correlation.
U
I know plenty about children, like I said if it causes distress they should not wear a mask, children are adaptable
DeleteChildren who are snotty are potential carriers of the disease therefore they SHOULD have a mask or they should stay at home..that is just common sense
Little cannons of virus ( as a nurse of 36 years this comment is perfectly true)
" important to me" ...I just disagree
People who cannot wear masks should shield or socially distance totally I still believe that
To me a common sense approach to this isn't rocket science , that is a perfectly reasonable thing to say. Those who find things confusing should just follow the rules as closely as they can
I just disagree with the points you raise
I never learn, do I, John? I try and reason with you. Not once, never ever, in so many years, will you concede that I may have a point. Just may. Nothing to do with being right. You prefer to "disagree", on principle. Fine. Whatever. By the way, you can't "disagree with points I raise". You can dispute them. Which you did. And that's ok. If I were round the corner I'd even buy you a Corona. To adlib that advert by the odious Michael Winner who gave us at least one amazing film (Once upon a Time in the West): "Calm down dear, it's only a virus. Not the end of civilization as we know it."
DeleteCheers,
U
I disagree with those points exactly as you do
DeleteI believe I am right
And so do you
So let's agree to differ....
I appreciate you engaging in discussion. I really do. This, my reply, is not about having the last word, John. May it be yours.
DeleteNeither is it about being "right" (or wrong). I do not wish to go into semantics, often a cul-de-sac. So I'll restrict myself to pointing out that there are so many angles to virtually any subject people may discuss. I think the important part to take on board what someone else has to say. And not put up fences but let another viewpoint work by osmosis. That way we learn. From each other. Modify. Fine chisel round the edges.
U
Well done Shirley for your mask making effort which also assists the Hospice.
ReplyDeleteAlphie
I have conveyed your message to her Alphie and she has just curtseyed.
DeleteWear a mask. Simples!
ReplyDeleteGood lass, Shirley.
Simples? There's no way I am wearing a meerkat mask Christina!
DeleteI wondered about Ian in Spain. My coworker Joanna is also in Spain, and she's going to be affected by this hastily-announced rule as well. Just makes me feel even more like I shouldn't leave home. (Even though I'm going crazy sitting around.)
ReplyDeleteIt seems like many retailers have decided they're not going to enforce this mask rule. I kind of understand that decision -- their employees, being paid a minimal wage, didn't really sign on for confrontations with customers and it seems unfair to expect it from them. On the other hand, we'd all like to feel safe in shops, right? Again, I'm staying home!
I think it is a good idea for you to stay at home Steve. Fewer small children will be traumatised - mask or no mask.
DeleteI have worn a mask once when I went on one of my infrequent shopping trips last week. it was OK for 10 minutes. But ,on another note......I spent a short time yesterday at a local cricket match..my P is a member and was scoring, socially distanced. Club house not open ,clean the ball every 5 overs, bring your own food and drink, that sort of thing, but there was a player sitting out front who was offering his packet of crisps to all and sundry. I saw at least 6 different people putting their hands in !! Aargh. I should have said something but didn't. One young man nearby did say " you shouldn't be sharing food", but I don't think the sharing fella noticed. Not good.
ReplyDeleteNot everybody is as highly tuned to the possibility of infection as we seem to be. Haven't they been paying attention?
Delete