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A new work phone arrived by courier to my locked-down house the other day.
A whiz-bang device, as they always are, it uses facial-recognition to sign me in each time I go to use it.
Nifty, unless you happen to be wearing a face mask.
I'm told those who wear glasses can have the same issues.
It's a real problem when you pull out your phone to scan the G-code (or QR-code) on a business to sign in.
It's not a good look to lower your mask outside the supermarket so the phone knows who you are, then you can access the phone app and scan in.
Lots of folk already eye off their neighbours with suspicion, rule-breakers and likely COVID carriers all.
The days of shared sympathy are long gone.
Down here in Victoria, people are sick of lockdowns.
They don't pretend to have manners any more.
Pretty soon a lot more folk are going to be sick with COVID-19 but that decision has already been made by people a lot further up the totem pole than me.
How they balance the economic necessity of re-opening against the death toll of the unvaccinated fills me with horror.
I'm happy it wasn't me making that call.
But back to the supermarket.
I was chatting to a fellow shopper, yes you can still do that - socially distanced and masks at full stretch nose-to-mouth.
He was watching me try and wrap some fruit in a plastic bag.
I wasn't able to prise the opening of the bag apart to deposit the fruit inside.
It would not do to have loose and unprotected fruit rolling about in the grimy basket, picking up all those germs on each sway back and forth.
There was a time you could lick a finger to open the plastic bag, those days are long gone.
Imagine the horror if you inserted your finger under your mask to lick it and then waved it about.
Akin to sneezing in public.
Those days are gone too.
My fellow shopper said he'd had the same problem with the fruit and veggies over the past 18 months.
He chanced on a solution - simple really.
Find some fruit or veg lying on a bed of ice, supermarkets love that sort of thing.
Swish your finger about the ice water for a bit and get the desired "stick" needed to continue shopping.
These are the final days of lockdowns.
My wife and I are very much looking forward to being able to visit our kids again, they've long left the nest.
They are only an hour away - but it may has well been the other side of the planet.
The doors are going to be flung open on COVID.
Personally I don't think Australia is ready yet.
I know places like the Northern Territory are not.
Good luck all, stay tucked up behind your face mask with the assurance of the vax flowing in your blood.
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