Time to wear masks in shops! – Hayley Matthews

As per the usual highlight of my week, I ventured to the supermarket and as I was leaving Mr Hayley told me how I had to have a mask on as it was now mandatory.

To be quite honest, the rules are changing that much that I haven’t really been keeping up-to-date and I’ve just been using my common sense.

Not wanting to upset anyone though I had a couple of masks that I’d purchased earlier on in the week so put one on as I approached the shop.

In front of me were five teenagers, not one of them wearing a mask and me being a bit grumpy on their lack of adhering to the rules, I started to give them “the look” and had a grumble to myself under my breath.

As I journeyed round the shop, it was apparent to me that more and more people were not wearing a mask. Now this was mid-week so around the 8th and as I thought the mask/supermarket rule was already in place, I was feeling a little confused and hacked off.

So feeling a bit silly as no one else seemed to have one on, I took my mine off. To be honest, it was more to find out if anyone would say anything.

Then a few aisles in, I saw five people in a row all wearing masks so quickly put mine back on in a bit of a panic. More and more confused I got as I picked up my shopping, looking at the divide between those who seemed to be taking things very seriously, and those who seemed like they had no idea there was even a pandemic.

“Maybe Mr Hayley has gotten the date wrong?” I wondered. He is very good with dates and the news so I always take heed of his advice. However, it seems even the strongest of minds can get a little confused with the advice on mask wearing and the rules to keep virus free.

I decided to ask a member of staff why a lot of people weren’t wearing masks when they’re meant to and I was told that it was because the date when it becomes mandatory was 10 July.

The poor guy behind the till told me that he’s got no idea how they are going to enforce it and said even though they’ve got a security guard at the door, people can come into the shop and take the mask off as soon as they see somebody they know who they want to have a chat with.

And have you also heard that there is a certain procedure to mask wearing? Yeah, you can’t just shove it on your face! I was told all about the correct procedure on mask wearing when on BBC Radio Scotland during the week and here it is. You’re not meant to just keep it in your bag and pull it out when you feel like it – you’re meant to sanitise your hands first before touching it, take a clean mask each tine and also sanitise your hands when you take it off. Also if it’s reusable, put it straight in the wash when you have used it. It also has to cover your mouth and your nose, which may sound like common sense, but my eight-year-old also pointed out to me the other day how he saw a man with holes cut out on his mask so that he could eat a bag of chips!

We had a right giggle at this but I’ll have the last laugh because the mask I’ve got for him has rainbows and unicorns on it, shhhhh!

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