[Caulkhead]

Originally Posted by marinabrian

Well as it happens Roy, I choose to wear a mask when shopping, simply to avoid having to explain myself to others, however I chose not to wear a mask when conducting a cash transaction in a bank, where it was obvious by looking through a plate glass window facing the street that I would be the only customer in the branch.

I realise it is mandated to wear a face mask in certain public spaces, however there are people for whatever reason are exempted from doing so.

If I had been challenged by a member of staff, or indeed if another customer had entered the branch and challenged me, I would have produced the card from my wallet pictured above.

Although dogeared, it is an official exemption card issued to me in June of last year.

These were primarily intended for users of public transport, as at the time of issue this was the only public place where mask wearing was mandated.

I accept that many people will throw up their hands in horror at the mere suggestion that an individual is being non compliant with the plethora of rules and regulations thrown out at seemingly random intervals by the powers that be at the moment, without giving due consideration to that persons individual circumstances.

In terms of mask wearing, if you see someone not wearing a mask, you simply give them a wide berth it is not at all difficult to do.

How many times have you seen people wearing a mask in a supermarket, often incorrectly, then simply reach over in front of you to grab an item from the shelf, without any regard for the invasion of your personal space?

So many people don a face covering and suddenly become impervious to danger....no but that is the sad reality of many people and their perception of their own invulnerability to Covid, not realising that the very thing set out in law to prevent transmission of this virus, is in part exacerbating the problem.

NHS, yes I applaud all of those involved in the front line of this organisation from the domestics and porters up to the chief executives of the trust and all of those in between.

If you follow my posts on this subject, you would realise I am married to an NHS front line worker, and further to that she is in charge of a ward that has been repurposed specifically to the care of Covid positive patients.

This gives me a very real insight as to the situation in regards to the local demands placed upon the local healthcare system and it's employees by Covid 19.

I realised I may have been vilified when I posted as I did, but to be fair I'm pretty fed up with the amount of speculation, and blatent untruths surrounding Covid.

And as a "recovered" Covid positive person currently involved in a study to better understand the virus and it's effects, I feel as if I'm contributing enough at the moment to counter any perceived negatives.

Any figures I quote in relation to Covid are collated in person from sources such as the ONS, PHE, or the SIREN program, and not simply "pub talk" if you can remember what a pub is of course

I'm not here simply being argumentative, however there is always another side to the story that often goes untold.

Oh and happy New Year everyone

Brian

Thanks for the further explanation and clarification, I hope that your reason for the need for mask exemption is not causing you too much distress. My wife has an exemption, she relies upon me to help her avoid going to settings where she might need a mask, we are all doing our best to avoid transmission.

As for your “very real insight” I (and I would think many others) have such insight too, and as I stated before my insight leads me to different conclusions to some of those you have posted on here. All of experiences are personal and valid.

I will not go into my story and how I am trying to do my best to get through this awful experience, but I will challenge respected members when they make posts that appear to me to be against our collective best interest. I will get it wrong sometimes, but will never knowingly encourage law breaking or wreck less behaviour, yes I could have avoided you choosing not to wear a mask, as you do in supermarkets, but if we are to relieve pressure on the NHS and avoid long term illness and death from this virus, we need to encourage better compliance to health recommendations.

If you had stated your reason for not wearing a mask was because you have an exemption, I would not have responded, although I cannot see why you would have needed to make the post in the first place setting out a number of your reasons but omitting to refer to your exemption. Your post as you reported it, I think, admitted that you felt it acceptable to break the law. Given your status with many members and the thanks you got for the post, I wanted to register a challenge to your actions and reasons for taking them. As I said, tin hat is on!

I respect your contributions towards the study, I and some of my friends also are making significant contributions towards supporting others through this, without needing to publish the details of how we are doing this.

I, too am pretty fed up with speculation and untruths, but hope I do not deliberately do anything for which I might be vilified. Let’s hope we all get our eyes tested at the opticians, rather than taking the kids for a spin!

Let’s hope it will be a happy new year, best wishes to you all.

Central locking has stopped working on driver’s door, would welcome any suggestions as to what I can do to fix. Just need to keep reminding myself that the reason I joined the forum was to keep this lovely old car on the road.