Darn it, the paywall cuts in
Basically about a stay in Italy and the mask madness, wearing them outside but only between 8pm and 8am or something - and taking them off to shout loudly in restaurants, that sort of thing.
Italians are playing it safe. Masks are worn by the vast majority, indoors and out, and not just in the evenings, but also during the daytime. Even when it’s sunny and 30C. Even when social distancing is eminently possible. In short, it’s a very masky place. More akin, in my mind, to a vast open-air hospital than a truly relaxing holiday destination.
"...But it was the bizarre little subplots to this overarching tableau that really engrossed me. Take the rules for restaurants. Until mask devotees invent a new method (suggestions on a postcard), eating will continue to require a significant degree of facial freedom. Therefore, naturally, masks may be dispensed with at the dinner table. Italians love their food, and they love talking loudly, and every restaurant we visited was packed to the rafters with happy people scoffing spaghetti, bellowing across the table, flirting outrageously, and laughing merrily. Gather 100 Italians in a restaurant and you’ll soon have respiratory particles everywhere.
So what meaningful purpose does it serve to put a mask on, as you must, to pop to the loo, to be shown to your table, or to leave the establishment? It makes as much sense as a peeing section in a swimming pool. The rule applies to restaurants with outdoor seating too. I watched countless people arrive maskless, greet the waiter maskless, don their mask for the three-metre walk to their table on the terrace, and then remove their mask to spend two hours in close proximity to other diners. What’s the bleeding point?..."