Freedom!

I have just been able to enjoy a pint in a (sort of) pub setting for the first time in what feels like an age. Meeting with friends across a table with a pint to shoot the breeze, talk shite and, generally, put the world to rights. It was *so* good! Okay, in reality, it was slightly less than perfect: we had to sit outside and it was pretty cold; masks had to be worn when going to the loo or moving to or from the table; and - the biggest ballache - we were lucky enough to share the table with a mask denier. Don't get me wrong; there were plenty of low-level breaches of rules goingh on around me that were making me feel a little uncomfortable as people, experiencing the natural joy of spotting people that they have not seen in a while, moved maskless between tables to shake hands and hug. All perfectly normal. What I didn't enjoy was having the mask denier encouraging people to shake hands (and having a go at my obviously lily-livered sensibilities for not doing so), laughing at me for following the pub's rules over wering a mask to the loo and generally decrying the usefulness/efficacy of masks in combatting Covid-19. This was not the nice return to some semblace of 'normality' I was looking forward to. People, can we get something straight here: your definition of 'freedom' may not exactly correspond to my definiotion of the same word. While you may think that not wearing your mask strikes a blow for your personal freedom and strikes a blow against the 'system' (getting one over on the sheeples, right?), I think that you could be jeopardising the pub being able to operate by flouting the rules. In addition, regardless of your personal take on disease transmission, just please wear your mask as requested: while it might not make any difference in your mind, it will make your fellow pub-goers feel a bit more protected. I'm not a fan of wearing masks. My glasses steam up and, in a nicely heated shop. everything gets a bit sweaty. However, if it means we can continue to move towards getting rid of masks completely, I'll put up with the discomfort for a bit. If mask-wearing is such an imposition, I'll gladly sacrifice my personal freedom at this moment in return for the long-term freedom of those who have shielded, isolated or have generally missed out on people in the past year. If it is genuinely about 'freedom'