Walking Without Masks During a Pandemic

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For many people walking without masks during a pandemic is normal. This is confusing. We have known for months, or even seasons that the virus is airborne and that masks are a simple way to keep safe. Despite this people walk by the seaside without masks. It’s not just that they walk without wearing masks, but that they do not seem to be visible.

I can’t imagine walking without a mask. Even when I’m walking across fields with little chance of crossing paths with people my mask is at hand, ready to be worn. I actually go out of my way not to walk within two meters of people, especially people without masks. I always have a mask with me, and recently I started to favour an FFP2 mask, over ffp1 masks, because I feel safer. I am still likely to wear masks whenever I am within four meters of people.

It takes one second to put on a mask, and to remove it. Today I wore it while walking about eight kilometres. It doesn’t bother me to walk with a mask. It is progress, for me to be within towns and cities, during this pandemic. I prefer the countryside, empty roads, empty agriculutal roads, empty trails.

View of the Mediterranean Sea

I went for a bike ride in the evening. 30 kilometres in one and a half hours. Nothing to challenge me, but the bike couldn’t cope. It kept skipping chain links and gears. That is distracting. I reached my goal, and then returned to the start point.