I am pleased that Ruth has such a positive experience each week. I wish I could say the same. I wonder why my experience is so different. I do not think the venue is especially safe the way it is managed. I find that people often do not observe distancing protocols either in the queue to enter the market or in the main central area, where there is much milling, be it to chat, look or wait to be served. It is true that most do wear masks but by no means all. When I was being served at a stall last Sunday and was talking to the stallholder a man stood right next to me without a mask. When I asked him to observe some distance he was shirty. Was I especially unlucky? Perhaps, but there are no wardens watching how people behave, like at the flower market, only the two youngsters letting people in and out at the neck of the queue as Ruth observes. The area is simply too small until it flares out at the far end but the problem is exacerbated by no foot traffic indicators. It would improve matters in my view to suggest a direction of travel, for example anti-clockwise around the space, rather than any which way, and also to mark the ground with distance indicators, as is the case in the queueing area, which I have noticed quite quickly subtly affects people's behaviour. Finally, at the front of the queue where the two young people are stationed is an NHS COVID-19 App check-in point. I have seen no one use it; I suspect few have noticed it is there. It would be simple for the two monitors to point it out to those standing in the queue whilst they are waiting to enter so they can check-in if they wish. When I suggested it to them they did not know what I was talking about even when I showed them the check-in point no more than a metre from where they were standing. So, sadly my impressions are rather different from Ruth's and less positive. I wonder what others feel.
David Bezem ● 2177d