Silly Not to Mask

On Sunday, less than a week ago I was on a train. I could hear someone coughing, and coughing. She sat in the seats a set of seats in front of the group of people I was with. I could hear the bronchial cough and I considered masking but didn’t and now I regret it.

Over the last two days I have had a sore throat and last night I didn’t sleep much so I chose to listen to podcasts with my eyes closed.

At Four AM I was meant to get up to run at 0530 but aborted that idea. If I had run in this state I might have been sick, and I would have suffered. It would have been nice to run with such a brilliant moon. I can try next year.

Some people might find it paradoxical that I consider this a victory. Usually when I hear someone coughing, whether in shopping centres, or trains, even outdoors, I mask. This time I didn’t mask and that’s a victory. It’s a victory because I controlled my reflex to mask. It’s a victory because it’s normal to catch a cold every so often.

On the flipside if I had not caught this cold I could have run this morning in the moonlight, and tomorrow I could hike to La Dôle, and then on Sunday I could walk in the Canton of Geneva. Now I have the frustration of not knowing how long I will feel sub-optimal.

And Finally

I see this as a pyrrhic victory because I resisted the urge to mask, which is great because I’m normal, but at the same time I could have avoided falling sick. Not masking in this context was absurd. I find the masks I wear comfortable. From now on I will feel more confident in masking in situations where I calculate there is a risk. Despite not being on top form I still managed to write a normal blog post today.