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The madding crowd — 10 Comments

  1. Get with the programme, old timer.  It's nothing to do with a virus, it's all about control.

    As religions the world over have always known, if you get them to accept your control-systems young, you've got them for life.

    • That is one reason why I silently cheer the crowds on.  There are times when a bit of anarchy is called for.

      • I heard a member of the public, male, youngish, remark on Sky News yesterday (Saturday, 5th) evening that he thought social distancing should continue, even after the end of the current plague, as being physically distant from people is better – people actually need that extra bit of space, he said thoughtfully. I think this is what Chesterton called living in the coffin of your own selfishness. Years ago I started reading Gogol's "Dead Souls" but never finished the book which is itself unfinished. As in the novel, dead souls are still statistics, as if alive, in the Age of the Bookkeeper. Lager louts are not attractive but are a good deal less unattractive than their dead, statistical counterpart would be if one could see the latter's face. So, I would suggest to the man across the water that he buy a few cans of cheap cider and litter his own safety box. 

        • Sadly I have heard that refrain before.  Not only do some want to retain their distances but intend wearing masks indefinitely.  My answer is to invade their little bubbles with the express intention of making them feel uncomfortable,  Mask wearers shall simply be ignored and treated as if they don't exist.  In my opinion, they will become phantoms of a period of madness that is just best forgotten.

          • Thanks for the response. I have avoided virtually every circumstance where I am obliged to wear a mask bar essential shopping within five miles. My mask is a spotted handkerchief tied up with the straps of an Australian cowboy hat. So, no haircut since 2019! If someone I know comes to the door with a mask on I say, "Take that fucking thing off" – and they do. 

            The most puzzling mask-wearers are those driving alone in their cars with all the windows shut tight.   

            • I have seen quite a few driving around with masks on.  I don't know what word to use to describe them.  Neurotics?  Hypochondriacs? Brainwashed zombies?  It is truly a baffling phenomenon.

              • I just presume that those solitary drivers with masks on have just nicked the car: it's the only rational explanation.

                • I hadn't thought of that.  It makes sense.  Maybe I should report any sightings to the authorities?

                  • And who might they be? At a time of collective panic, and the absence of sober judgement, authority has withdrawn to the individual kitchen, the mug of tea, a pipe of Condor plug (nowadays made in Poland) and a clear head – a bit like this thread, the boxes getting smaller and smaller! The men of the grate, and the smoking chimney, will cast a balm on troubled souls, as if the previous two years had never happened and all folly had been forgiven. Just a few men, by the fire, in shrinking but not shrunk boxes of reason. One must be optimistic. Meanwhile, citizen's arrest is available for masked, motorised kleptomaniacs.

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