Faces without masks - that's what I look forward to

Apart from the appalling death toll from Covid-19, the separation of loved-ones and the desperate strain seen in the faces of doctors and nurses in intensive care units, the wearing of masks in public has been one of the defining features of this pandemic. And it's one of the things I look forward to casting aside when we all return to normal life, due, it is said, between June and September. Masks have been more than just a covering-up of mouth and nose. They have come to represent the fears and worries of this year-old pandemic. When the mask goes on, the eyes lower too, the shoulders go rounded, people look away.You feel a different class of human being. For a start if someone is smiling at you you don't realise, unless the eyes are sparkling. You talk but can't properly hear what's being said because the mask muffles the voice. You can't be jolly in a Covid mask, you just want to do what you have to do and get home. Masks have made us all hesitant, over-cautious and apologetic. I just hope that when normality returns, when the pandemic is effectively over because we are all vaccinated, the human race can go back to being energetic and optimistic and inspiring and sociable and happy. For those who have lost members of family or friends, this future life we all yearn for will never return to what it was like before March 2020. But even for these poor souls, I hope that the nationwide throwing-away of masks, however prettily designed they might have been, will give a sense of rejuvenation and liberty and hope.