Then, some four days later, on Friday the 15th of May, 2020, I arrived home from a shopping trip and shortly afterwards realized that my face mask was 'gone'.
This "rough and ready" video details the steps I took until the face mask and myself were (happily) reunited:
A (very) minor example of how perseverance can triumph over adversity!
As a 69 year-old pensioner, the video also illustrates the general principle of exploring all possible internal and external avenues whenever something unexpected, or unwelcome occurs in life, and then, irrespective of whatever the experience or outcome may have been, "moving on".
An approach that doesn't accumulate any psychological baggage! (Note 1)
Before I digress too far, here are some photos of the face mask and notes on its construction.
A Covid-19 D.I.Y. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) face mask, Mark 1 (altered to Mark 1A in the final photograph):
Basic Materials:
The box of three James Pringle mens handkerchiefs, stapler (staple gun), and bag of mixed lengths of elastic had been purchased at different times from various charity shops (thrift shops) in Dover, England.
Front view:
In the Mark II version, I'm going to attach the bottom ends of the elastic ear flaps further down the sides of the mask.
Note the "designer" folds at the bottom corners 😀 (actually intended to add a little weight so that the mask hangs closer to the face - a consideration for someone who has a nose as big as mine!)
Rear view:
Construction details of the homemade mask:
1) Fold the handkerchief twice length-ways so that you now have four layers of material.
2) Fold the short ends of the rectangle inwards until they meet in the middle as shown.
3) Staple across the folded ends so that the staples go through all eight layers of cotton.
4) "Double staple" the ends of the elastic loops to the mask for durability.
A still from the Friday, 15th of May video:
Wearing the homemade face mask at the end of the New Marina Pier in the Dover Western Docks Revival (DWDR) area of the Port of Dover. The famous white cliffs and castle are in the background.
The Mark 1A revision (made on Sunday, 17th of May):
I decided to alter the bottom of the mask (using staples, of course) to better follow the contours of my amazingly manly lower jaw.
Once I had done so, I donned the mask and looked in a mirror and was very impressed with the results (more so than the above selfie might appear to warrant!)
However, I have since been plagued by vague but persistent impulses to either operate on people (Ã la Mathew Gee, a brilliant surgeon) or eat them (Ã la Hannibal Lector, a less than brilliant psychiatrist).
Watch this space... (or the news 😀)
Cycling route map and biometrics are on this Polar Flow web page.
Abridged versions of this post are also on Facebook and Twitter
Note 1:
In terms of "grumpiness", negativity, viciousness, and malicious gossip, all of which are of unnatural (i.e. of psychological) origin, and symptomatic of a deeper malaise, I've met "pensioners" who are barely out of their teens - and some who have not yet reached them.
And when something unexpected or unwelcome happens in the lives of such people, someone has to pay...
John Latter
Dover Blog - The Psychology of a Small Town
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