The 4th of July!

Today’s the day then, lockdown’s biggest ease since we began and like kids in a sweet shop grown adults are excitedly talking about the pubs opening at 6am – though it remains to be seen how many of them will take advantage of this opportunity to knock back a bevvy or twelve with their mates, in an establishment, for the first time since March? I see it. But… I really don’t get it.

With the build up of cheer from some, I myself have headed to this date feeling a little bit sick with nerves about what it might ultimately signify. What might come later as a result. The revelling seems to come from those who are simply sick of the lockdown with no more of a vision than how it has affected them and I can’t help but think that this could well be a recipe for disaster!

I get it, we have had enough and we want things back to normal. We want our kids back to school both for their and our own mental health let alone the importance for their education, we want to go on holidays, hug our loved ones, go into shops! We are tired of being careful, staying home, avoiding the potential dangers… It has all got too much, especially in recent weeks and in light of the flouting of the rules from the likes of Dominic Cummings and more recently Boris’s father, “OldJo”, we think why the hell should we? If it’s alright for them…

But for me I am simply not satisfied that it is safe. I am not satisfied that the government are not just caring about their own economical ends rather than the good of the country. I am not satisfied that this is right at all.

So I won’t be going yet.

That doesn’t mean I don’t support local business or want our economy to once again float. It doesn’t mean I don’t care about people’s livelihoods, good state of mind or anything else. It does mean I care about the physical health of those around me. My own family and everyone else. I will wear a mask when in a position that I am asked. I don’t see it as an infringement on my human rights and fail to see how it could affect my breathing – I feel those making a fuss are simply wanting to demonstrate a ‘Don’t tell me what to do” attitude and can’t help but think why?! There’s a time and a place for rebellion, this is not it.

I wonder if they would feel the same way if faced with real breathing difficulties having been admitted to hospital with the virus. It’s very easy to say the risk is low, it won’t be me, I am healthy, I know best. And yes for the majority, even if we get the virus we will recover, but there are exceptions to rules and I don’t want to be it. Even if wearing a mask were to only offer half a hope that it might keep me or someone else safe then it is worth doing.

And it is those people, the mask flouters, the preachers of this all being a big joke, the ones rushing to get into the pubs, it is those people I want to avoid the most for I feel they pose the most risk. When someone says to me “let’s hang out, I’m not bothered about social distancing” I know it is this person I will not be meeting. Not because I dislike them but because I don’t want to be associated with the harm they may have put themselves in front of before they’ve come into contact with me! And I don not want to pass that potential harm onto those who trust me to have been safe.

I do understand the frustration. The upset, the loneliness and the need for normality to resume. Why people want things to open and why shop, cafe, pub owners and everyone else want their doors open. It’s sink or swim for us all and if we think we will make it to shore quicker by rushing in then we’re going to do it, self preservation but…

I want to wait, I like the slow leak in my boat approach not the sod it let’s all just jump in the choppy waters and see if we can swim attitude. NO, not for me, not for mine. And I could be very wrong in my concerns. Perhaps there is no need but I’d rather be wrong this side of the fence than the other!