COVID-19 UPDATE FROM SOLIHULL...

 Covid-19 Update From Solihull…

So, with virus related deaths soaring and NHS beds filling up dangerously, whilst positive Covid-19 and new strain cases are increasing out of control, I strolled to my local One Stop shop yesterday morning, for exercise and a newspaper. 

There were lots of vehicles about, which surprised me, for during a lockdown, one might have expected considerably fewer. However, I hauled my mask over both nose and mouth, being somewhat susceptible due to the medication I need to take, entered the store and picked up a newspaper. At the counter was a young mother with her very small child but the parent wore no mask, merely a loose scarf which barely rose above her chin.

I was really surprised at her and as she turned, she must have realised why I was looking straight at her, pointing at my mask. She hurried away.

I mentioned this to the young lady who was serving, I know her and she was wearing a mask, as well as spraying sanitiser about on her working surface. She agreed with me that the customer was out of order.

As I turned away to exit the shop, a working chap entered, wearing no mask…

He must have been around sixty years of age, he was wiry and wore clothing which seemed to belong to someone who could have been a plumber (his van was parked outside the plumbing store further along the row of shops…) 

I stopped. I pointed at my mask. He then began a not too creative dance, almost bowing in obeisance to the fact that I was wearing a mask and he wasn’t. He really seemed to be taking the piss.

He continued to bend towards me in misplaced deference, arms opening like he was taking the applause of a pantomime audience as he approached the counter (suggesting perhaps that he was purchasing cigarettes.) 

I remarked loudly: “Is there something wrong with you?”

No reply.

I concluded: “Yeah, there MUST be…”

I exited. In these dreadful times, two out of three customers in a local shop were not wearing masks…

On my way back to the house, a young woman was approaching on the same pavement that I was using. Her head was bent slightly forwards, eyes glued to her iPhone, so I did the sensible thing and stepped into the road to offer her space, but she neither acknowledged my good sense and manners, nor did she even look away from her phone. Her ignorance was her bliss…

Not a good start to the day…

However, this morning the same assistant, who along with the other staff and the manager, is vigilant and welcoming, told me that after I had left yesterday, a chap walked in to pay a bill, wearing a mask.

He needed to separate the parts of the bill, so he proceeded to pull down his mask, lick his fingers and do the job. When he then asked the assistant to staple the papers together, she rightly refused, indignantly reminding him that he had just licked his fingers…

He mumbled something about doing it at home and left the shop…

Just more ‘minor’ incidents in a country which harbours some inhabitants who care little about advice or rules, especially if their own selfish liberties are at risk…

The Mowdog…