As one of the weird people who cannot wear a mask, I know from the looks and the tuts that other people think I should be wearing one. Since they introduced the law on public transport it has been easy for me to avoid and I have walked, cycled and driven rather than have to explain to people why I am not wearing a mask on public transport. With reports and social media videos of police dragging people off trains for not having a mask and people spitting at people without masks, it hasn’t encouraged me to want to use it. I hope they are the exceptions and not normal, but I haven’t used it for myself to find out. Avoiding shops is a lot harder, not going window shopping and browsing was easy as I have never done that. I have visited shops and pubs that have someone on the door checking for masks, maybe my approach of waiting 3m from them to tell them means it really is as easy as saying “I’m exempt” once inside there are no looks or tuts as people know you have already been challenged. The only time I have been asked to “Prove it” was when I went to the football. Then there is Sainsburys, other supermarkets maybe the same I just haven’t been to them. When I walk in I look for other people without masks, so that I know it’s not just me. I cannot see people's facial expressions, but I can see the few people staring back and most of the others just carrying on with their day. I haven’t had anyone challenge me, but I do get people who tut at me. They look at me, shake their head then tut as loud as they can. Personally I have found it is the people with masks that squeeze past and lean over the trolly to get things off the shelf and the people without masks who wait a few seconds for me to get out of their way. I have avoided going shopping as much as I can but I had to visit last week and use my Christmas present for the first time. A lanyard with “I’m Exempt” on it, brought from Amazon. I went at 10pm, excluding staff there was probably less than 10 people in there, so easy to distance from other people. I guess the mask monitor didn’t ask me as I walked in because I put the lanyard on just outside. There was one other person who I tried to keep away from. I waited about 3-4m from them while they picked what they wanted, so I could get something from the shelf next to them, then a few aisles later a waited for them to walk out of the aisle before I walked in. I got to the self-service tills just before them and they chose to use the till next to me! I was tempted to tell people to grow up, but there are some who need to learn things that are taught to children. Don’t point or stare at people that are different to you. Don’t worry about what other people are doing and focus on what you have to do. If you have been outside playing, wash your hands before having anything to eat.
Colin Potter ● 1156d