on the bus

[adrian_turtle]

When there are 2 people wearing masks on a bus, sometimes the other one will mention it to me. When I'm the only person masking on a bus (as is increasingly the case), sometimes a person will ask if I'm masking because I'm sick, and I'll usually say I'm just being cautious. I usually don't want to go into details.

I had several quick and pleasant interactions with strangers on the trolley and and at the bus stop with strangers who liked my hat. I believe they appreciated my idea of sewing a progress pride ribbon over the hatband, or perhaps meant to express solidarity. It was even possible they recognized the low crown and broad brim makes it the most flattering hat I've ever owned. In any case, I wasn't expecting an unpleasant interaction on the bus.

Stranger: Why are you wearing a mask?
Adrian: I'm being cautious.
Stranger: Why are you wearing a mask? Nobody else is wearing a mask!
Adrian: I'm being cautious. I had a bad case of Covid and I really don't want to get it again.
Stranger: Nobody else is wearing a mask! There is no Covid. You can't have Covid. What are you doing wearing a mask?

I stopped talking. There's no point trying to reason with nonsense. A few minutes later a nice person offered me a seat.

In retrospect, I wish I had told him "I'm a weirdo. I dress like a weirdo. You had better get used to people who dress like weirdos pretty quickly, because this bus is going to Cambridge."

Comments

[oursin]

I was going to say 'Deuced unBritish, wot?' but I daresay there are places where people do think it's quite appropriate to do this thing, and Maybe It's Because I'm A Londoner that this is so not a circumstance that arises.

(I'm sure I've done the 'Situations in which it is actually appropriate to enter into conversation on the Tube'.)

[mrissa]

I believe Adrian is in the other Cambridge, so the reaction to "deuced unBritish, wot?" would be "well, yes."

[adrian_turtle]

Mrissa is correct that I am in Boston and was approaching the other Cambridge. I have no idea if your local Cambridge has a reputation for peculiarity. On Sunday, I went right through Cambridge to where the gluten-free-granola loving people of West Somerville continue wearing socks with sandals.

[oursin]

Yes, I got that! I was thinking national differences and then that even those aren't absolute.

[redbird]

When Adrian, Cattitude, and I were in London in late April (while my mother was dying) nobody asked directly why I was masking. Cattitude and I were asked whether we were doctors in an elevator at the Royal Free Hospital, I think because our as far as I could tell, we were the only people there wearing N95 masks.

Like Adrian, I notice other masked people on the bus or subway these days, and I wonder occasionally whether it means anything that there are three or four other people sitting or standing seprately and wearing masks. She's being asked why she's masking much more often than I am, and I think that's because she's going out more than I am.

[adrian_turtle]

She's being asked why she's masking much more often than I am, and I think that's because she's going out more than I am.

Nobody ever challenges my mask when I'm going somewhere with Cattitude.

[evalerie]

Adrian: Any theories on why people don't challenge your mask when you are with Cattitude? Is it because he is a guy? Just curious!

[adrian_turtle]

It's likely that sexism has something to do with it. The fact that he guarantees I'm not the ONLY one masking, when I'm sitting next to him, probably also has something to do with it.

There was a time at the airport when a couple of kids saw me and Vicki wearing masks, and asked me what I had on my face. (Lost strangers ask Vicki for directions. Children talk to me.) It didn't feel like a hostile kind of challenge, more like honest bewilderment. And their grown-ups were mortified.