I do not think I have broken a single lockdown law nor
piece of advice since it began in March. I am fortunate that I can work from
home. I frankly prefer it. I save time, because I don’t have to take the bus
into my office. I get as much work done as before and have extra time to write
articles.
I am not remotely sceptical about Covid. I have been
worried about it since I read the first accounts coming out of China. It is by
far the most serious pandemic respiratory disease since 1918.
Catching Covid for older people is more dangerous than
playing Russian Roulette. I live with such a person and therefore I must not
catch Covid and above all else I must not pass it on.
I have been very careful indeed since March. I view my
house as virus free and therefore it can only be brought in from outside. I therefore
go out as little as possible and have as little contact as possible with other
people who don’t live in my house. Whenever I come in from outside or touch a
package from outside, I wash my hands.
But while I have agreed with most of the advice and
laws that have been made by Government, I oppose making face masks compulsory.
I will obey the law. I have a scarf in my bag. I tie
it round my face when I go into a shop. After that I put it back in my bag. I
don’t wash it after each use. In fact, I don’t wash it at all. I will follow
the letter of the law but do no more.
I will continue to shop at my local Tesco because I
have no choice. But I will go to no other shops while I am compelled to wear a
face mask. If I need something, I will buy it online.
I will not go to the cinema while I am compelled to
wear a facemask, nor will I go to a pub or a restaurant. If I want to watch a film,
I will buy a DVD or else use a streaming service. If I want a drink, I will buy
a bottle of wine at the supermarket and have a whole bottle for the price of a
glass in a pub. Instead of paying over the odds to sit uncomfortably in a restaurant
I will buy the ingredients and cook the food myself. Cooking is as easy as reading
instructions.
I will not take part in any leisure activity that requires
me to wear a mask. I will either do it at home or not do it at all. There are
millions of people like me in Britain. Some will flout the law, but most like
me won’t. We will obey with reluctance and then quietly refuse to take part.
Why do I oppose the compulsory use of face masks? In
part it is because I loathe wearing them. As soon as I put one on, I can’t wait
to get it off. I cannot enjoy any activity while wearing one.
Covid has never been particularly bad in rural
Aberdeenshire, but if I could get through March and April without wearing a mask
I can certainly get through July and August when cases here have dwindled to
almost zero.
While there is some science that suggests that wearing
masks may be marginally useful, there is also science that points out that wearing
them can be harmful.
When wearing my scarf, I constantly adjust it, because
it makes my glasses steam up. The scarf slips down and I pull it up. It loosens
and I have to tighten it.
I had discipled myself since March to not touch my
face. But suddenly with compulsory masks that disciple was lost. Now I may touch
a door handle have Covid on my hands and later adjust my scarf and catch it. I
feel less safe.
I am less aware of my surroundings because I can’t see
through my misted glasses. I don’t pay attention to following my own rules that
have kept me and my family safe since March, because all of my attention is on
the mask that I am forced to wear.
There are different attitudes to face masks. Some
people support them others oppose them. Let it therefore be a matter of choice
that people can freely disagree on.
We are not going to get the economy back to normal if
we are all going to remain two metres away dressed up as if we are auditioning
for Silence of the Lambs.
Until I can relax in a restaurant, I am not going to
go at all. Until I can go on holiday without having to follow endless rules and
regulations I am going to stay at home.
Far from encouraging people to go shopping and go back
to pubs restaurants and cinemas, masks instead will prevent these from being places
anyone wants to go.
The British public will instead have drinks with friends
where there are no masks. We will go on dates with strangers we have met on the
Internet and exchange saliva and other fluids with them. We will watch sports
and movies in large groups on large televisions without masks. We will do all
these things because Nanny Nicola and now Nanny Boris won’t be able to see us.
If Covid is going to rise again it will do so whether
we wear masks or not.
Like everyone else I could find a justification for
not wearing a mask. I could say I have trouble breathing when wearing a mask. I
do. I could say the mask makes me anxious. It does. But I don’t want to walk
round a shop waiting for the next dirty look and the next comment. So, I endure,
and I do what I’m told. I obey the law, because I believe it is right to obey laws
even when I disagree with them.
But I promise I will go nowhere that requires me to
wear a mask unless I must. I will boycott anywhere that requires a mask except
the supermarket and will do so until masks are made voluntary.
