So this happened today. I was out having a Cold Beer with Peter (sitting by an open door, as always) when an old guy came in and asked if I happened to have a mask. Well, I always have a couple of spare masks in my bag in case of emergency, like if mine breaks, or even for the times I’ve walked out of the house without one on and don’t realise until I’m in the street. So of course I said sure, and gave him one of my extras. And THEN he asked me how much I wanted for it. Like, whaaat? I said it was on the house and that the important thing was that he had one. He thanked me and walked away.

Later it struck me that this was a bit odd because there is (sadly) no longer an indoor mask mandate and I wondered why he needed one. I mean, they are easy enough to find in health centres and pharmacies (where they are still required) and then I wondered if maybe it was to get into a soup kitchen or other help centre since he did look a bit down on his luck. Guess I’ll never know now.

Meanwhile Spain has the dubious honour of reporting the first two deaths in Europe related to monkeypox. The only other one outside of Africa (so far) has been in Brazil. Suddenly it feels like February 2020 all over again.