Omicron. Yes, the latest variant of concern has brought with it the return of compulsory mask wearing in shops and on public transport in England. A point to note here is that the rest of the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (devolved for matters of health from the UK’s Westminster government) had not joined England’s laissez faire approach. Since, 19th July 2021, the so-called English freedom day, one has been encouraged to make a personal choice to wear a mask or not based on one’s own assessment of the Covid risk. And, naturally, following the example set by the Prime Minister as well as seeing the government benches stuffed with maskless Tories, many people simply assumed Covid was done and dusted and had stopped wearing face coverings.
Mmmm, I could embark now on an intense rant about the rinse and repeat poor leadership together with the sporadic wishy-washy messaging from our government, but instead it’s time for me to calm down and get out the silk and the dyes . . .
Find the last few rectangles of backing silk
Dig out the black elastic from the bottom of my sewing box
And sew up a few more silk masks.
Share this:
Agnes Ashe 
Your masks are still going strong here. Despite the fact that wearing them most definitely did not go out of fashion. Too many decided to follow Our Leader’s example though.
Yes, mine are too despite much washing. It had dropped to about 50% here in shops, but I noticed on the buses going into and out of the town centre that almost nobody was still wearing them. Quite a turn around in the last couple of days though. 🤞🏻 omicron turns out to be milder. 🤞🏻
We never gave it up here in Ontario and it really has become just a fact of life. Will never be able to figure out why people make a fuss…and your versions will brighten up any day!
Oh that’s so refreshing to read of a society with a sensible and not a ridiculously politicised view of mask wearing. Well done over there. 😊
Not perfect but feels a lot more sensible that many places.
May you sell many more of your masks to brighten up our miserable world.
Yes, it is all a bit more miserable at the moment, but hopefully omicron won’t make people sicker if they are unlucky enough to become symptomatic with Covid. 🤞🏻
Gosh! I hadn’t registered mask wearing had become optional. Not the case here, but then I suppose the rest of the world – if they think about Australia at all – imagines we have become a paranoid police state. I don’t enjoy wearing masks, but wouldn’t consider being in a public place with unknown people without one on. I travelled on the train yesterday, 90 minutes each way, for the first time in many weeks, and will do so again in a couple of days. It is definitely compulsory in that situation, and as I view it, necessary. Tiresome, but necessary. Your beautiful creations would lighten the mood!
Yes, there’s been quite a few people over here who thought the optional policy was rather suspect with the infection rate high for most of this year. Wearing masks isn’t too bad, but I’ve still not cracked the steamed up glasses problem especially in cold weather. Saw on the news that your Deputy Prime Minister has tested positive after visiting England. It’s all that partying that the Tories are now infamous for! 😉
I’m with you on the steamed-up glasses problem.
And I caught up with the controversy over a Tory Christmas party that may or may not have happened – but if it did – which they are not saying it did, because it wasn’t legal, so they wouldn’t have held it, but IF it did, then it was held in a COVID fashion. Is that it in a nutshell or did I miss something? 🙂
I understand poor Barnaby (our deputy PM) is concerned about being in a hotel room for two weeks with only himself for company. The struggle and pain is real.
One would expect the experience for Barnaby would make him a more sympathetic politician, but I’m not holding my breath. And, as far as liar Johnson and his cabal of liars are concerned the British people knew his track record and still enough of them voted for him to win in our somewhat flawed electoral system. Only two-thirds of those eligible to vote bothered to turn up in 2019 and despite the Tory so-called landslide result, less people voted for them than for the other parties. We really need electoral reform, but it’s not in the interest of either of the two main parties.
(COVID-safe fashion)