Masks - GET A GRIP.

[Changednamesorry]

Ok.

So. Lots of whinging about masks at the moment as BoJo finally hauls his arse into gear and says that you have to wear them in the shops and on public transport.

In Catalunya where I live masks are obligatory. Every time you are in public. Including in the street. Inside and out. The exceptions are

Medical conditions (you need a paper justifying this)
When playing sport
Children under the age of 6
If eating or drinking

If you don't comply - 100 euro fine. No arguments.

Most people here were already wearing masks anyway (because we saw the horror at the beginning of the pandemic here and we know what a real lockdown is like - not allowed out at all, children locked inside for nearly 3 months, etc)

People arent whining and complaining nor imagining how they can invent aome excuse to mean that the rules don't apply to them and the overwhelming majority of people are wearing them all the time.

Tourists not so much but they getting fined. Good.

So England. PLEASE. Stop with the selfishness. Literally dozens of countries have mandatory mask wearing and citizens comply because they care about each other and don't spend their time acting entitled and "I'm all right Jack"

There are articles in the European press about this. Literally "English people are selfish - is it any wonder they are so resistant to wear masks". It's embarrassing. As a nation, as a society, it's time to grow up and just put the mask on like everyone else.

English people. You aren't special. You are starting to look like the kid who gets thw whole class detention because they just keep on breaking the rules.

Wear the mask. Please. It's for the safety of everyone.

And if you ABSOLUTELY MUST come to Spain on holiday, even more so.

@cologne4711

Hope she tells them to bog off. She'll know from their notes whether they actually do have a relevant condition

Yes she (and all her colleagues) is most definitely saying this, in not so many words, for those who have no clinical indication not to wear a mask.

It is NOT going down well...seriously, GPs are busy enough without having to deal with these types of time wasters!

And, before anyone pipes up, yes GP surgeries have being open and running telephone appointments for patients all the way through this pandemic, even over the Bank holidays.

Got that off my chest, phew

Totally agree, OP. Reason number 10956 I've had to feel ashamed to be English about lately.

Because
1- retailers are saying they won't stop people coming in if they don't wear a mask
2- the police is saying its an impossible task, hinting at the idea they wont be going afer people as a matter of course.

In which case continue to keep your distance from people. People slagging off the English on this thread (I don't know if you did or not, I couldn't be bothered to go back and check) for being thick, selfish, whingers (add your insult here) isn't going to turn people around to your way of thinking. Quite the opposite in fact. One has to trust then when it gets to it the majority will comply. People usually do, aside from a minority.

Honestly does the average Spanish person actually give a fuck about what we do or don’t do in England?
Looks like the European press just make things up for ‘news’ much like the British press really.

@Fairyliz I imagine since so many British head off to spain around this time every year, and considering how spain is in a better situation than us regarding covid, they would be concerned with Britain arriving in spain who dont want to comply with masks in the same way the Spanish have. Ireland is currently doing the same with US tourists; there is uproar about them arrived en masse from areas with higher infection rates than Ireland.

Honestly does the average Spanish person actually give a fuck about what we do or don’t do in England? we give a fuck if you have high rates of infection and then come here and don't wear a mask or social distance. I'll be fucking annoyed if my kids can't go back to school in September cos tourists have brought a load of cases here.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/14/video-of-drunken-brits-maskless-in-magaluf-appals-spaniards

Because Scotland at least seems to be following the masks advice with a lot less silliness than the English.

Nope. Plenty of silliness here.

@Fairyliz

Honestly does the average Spanish person actually give a fuck about what we do or don’t do in England? Looks like the European press just make things up for ‘news’ much like the British press really.

Yep, astonishingly enough other countries also have shit stirring tabloids.

So over this "Oh we are the laughing stock of the world, I'm so embarrassed to be British/English" thing. It's like reverse exceptionalism - this masochistic desire for everyone to know that we are all crap. You saw it in the run up to the Olympics - "they'll be a disaster, EVERYONE will be laughing at us", as though they were willing it to happen.

I realise a lot has changed in the country since 2012, but the attitude was prevalent even then.

we give a fuck if you have high rates of infection and then come here and don't wear a mask or social distance.

So quarantine anyone coming in.

Yep totally agree.

Totally agree OP. It’s quite pathetic, isn’t it 😂

I agree with the OP. Should have happened in March or April and then perhaps non-food shops could have resumed earlier.

Honestly does the average Spanish person actually give a fuck about what we do or don’t do in England?

Of course they don't. All this "we're the laughing stock of the world" guff - no we're not. Because most other countries are doing their own thing and couldn't care less about what's happening in other countries. Just as we're not pointing and laughing at any other random country which we don't have a connection to.

Well said op! It's only when you are out by which I mean away from home, you don't have to wear one in your own place and most of us aren't going out all the time.

Who’s moaning? In Scotland and folk are wearing them and getting on with things. If folk are moaning they need to get a grip and spare a thought for medical/beauty/dental/vet professionals who wear them frequently. It’s ridiculous

[quote strawberrypip]@nobeer I really dont care how many people live in a flat in Madrid. considering how much stricter their lockdown was they really havent done much better than we did - they are not superior, every country has its twats[/quote]
My point was that we're all living on top of each other and it hasn't been at all easy. But I agree about the twats. Plenty wherever you go who seem to think rules don't apply to them ☹️

I agree. People are just using it to bash England
The only country that is not allowed to feel good about itself in any single way

Honestly does the average Spanish person actually give a fuck about what we do or don’t do in England?

No. I follow the news/social media in my home country, in England where I lived for years and my husband is from, and in the third country where we live now.

In all three, everyone is saying the same thing. That their government is the worst, that everyone else in the world is laughing at them, that their response has been awful compared to everyone else. It'd be funny if it wasn't so tragic!

@Changednamesorry I agree with you

@Changednamesorry I don't. You'e hardly going to win friends and influence people by insisting we all get a grip. And breathe ..... I have no intention of visiting Spain to parade around like a tit in a fucking mask.

Lots of my friends who live in Scotland are complaining about the discomfort associated with masks. And they are wearing them, fortunately for them they don’t have any conditions that make it impossible. I don’t see any reason to tell them not to complain.

It’s really confusing why people in countries where face coverings are mandated are complaining about the behaviour of people in countries where they aren’t yet mandated.

But yes, I've heard lots of people from England moaning about the masks and how uncomfortable they are. Much more so than in my home country or the country where I live. Both of which have legally required them for weeks now and most people just wear them without any issue.

@piscis

I am not against mandatory mask-wearing in indoor public spaces, I think it makes sense, even though I find it very uncomfortable and claustrophobic, but that makes sense. But I find a lot of the things they've done in Spain, and they are still doing, a bit ridiculous and horrifying (kids not being allowed to go out at all for 3 months! For example). You can easily see scenes in Spain of people walking on the street, alone, wearing a mask (because it is mandatory) and lots of bar terraces full of groups of people not wearing one (because it is not mandatory). I find these scenes ridiculous. Last thing I heard today is that face masks are going to become mandatory in Andalucia. I am sorry but they'd better make another lockdown because that's the most ridiculous thing ever.

@piscis I don't know if you left a word out but we're having mandatory facemasks in Andalucía to prevent another lockdown and so our kids can go back to school in September.

I'm so embarrassed by what a laughing stock we have become, and what babies we collectively seem to be. YANBU.

Exactly.l You only have to look at the people on the beaches, in the supermarkets and in offices to see what snowflakes people are. How hard is it really?

Interesting point there op 'some people understand personal responsibility before the government forces them to install a moral compass'.

Yet I believe it was in Spain that care homes were found abandoned in March with some residents dead in their beds. Lacking a moral compass is somewhat of an understatement in this instance. Then there were the beaches that were sprayed with bleach in April, which has likely caused untold damage. These are just the things that I remember from main stream media, so who knows what else I haven't picked up on. I think the entire response to coronavirus in Spain hasn't been particularly exemplary, but at the same time I wouldn't go onto a forum and write a post about how the whole of Spain abandons care homes and destroys entire ecosystems, so back off with your sweeping statements. I live in England and see plenty of people wearing masks in shops already and I'm sure that once it becomes compulsory it will become commonplace.

I had my hair done today and had to wear one for about three hours, it was strange at first but I soon got used to it.

YANBU at all.