Went to my usual café this morning to buy a coffee. While waiting on a stool outside, sans mask, not even knowing whether that’s allowed or not, I asked the owner whether he’d yet had the jab. Just making conversation.
He said he’s had the first one. AstraZeneca? I asked. Yes, he said. How was it, I inquired? OK, he replied, before revealing to me that he hadn’t had it all. He knows my views but obviously took a moment to orient himself. He revealed that he had to say he’d had the jab. Some customers had reacted badly when he’d said he hadn’t and he was concerned that they wouldn’t return.
Sneaked into the local newsagent unmasked, with the right money, and scurried out with my newspaper, feeling I’d bucked authority.
Afterwards, I sipped my coffee on a bench talking with a friend; neither with mask in sight. I keep my coffee in my hand long after I’ve drunk it lest the fuzz come by. A masked man walks by looking intently at us. Looks like a scold but I pointedly say good morning and he responds. Could have been wrong.
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