What a shock; the air of stress, panic, alarm, distrust, animosity towards each other was palpable. People apologised for spending time thinking about the choice of items because they were holding others up, others stared at you as if you were a leper, others gave you an air of disgust as they perused not only your miserable being but your audacity at being in their presence.
Shop staff themselves backed up into shelving to stay away and looked panicked by approaching trolleys, others were almost grey in the face at the stresses they were obviously feeling. I spoke to one lady who tends to operate the Scan and Go tills; I thanked her for all her hard work and she almost cried with the strain of it all. She told me she suffered form anxiety and this was triggering everything. She was being sick in the mornings before coming to work and had butterflies all day until she could flee back home behind the safety of her front door. I could only say I was sorry to hear that and wished her every good wish.
I was glad to get out of there.
Back at my car, I removed the yellow Marigolds by turning the inside out (I would wash them with soap and water when I got home), but that left me to get into the car, drive back and know any viruses were on the gloves not my hands.
I do wonder........
- what will society look like when we are able to come out of this 'lock down'?
- how sociable will people be in their new normal?
- will we be expected to wear gloves when we enter supermarkets from then on? (let's face it, Spain has had a policy of gloves around fresh produce for years)
- will face masks become a fashion statement?
- will we stop seeing people as a threat and return to a more friendly attitude once more?