I collected Penny from the vet yesterday.
Apart from being delighted to have her home again, the trip was significant in another way. It was the first time I have worn a face nappy since the start of The Madness.
It was a horrible experience. It fogged up my spectacles so I couldn’t see where I was going but even worse, I couldn’t breath. Grabbing great lungfuls of carbon dioxide just didn’t do it for me and I just felt dizzy and gasping for some decent oxygen. I felt smothered and suffocated. I couldn’t wait to get the fucking thing off.
On the way home I had to stop off to get some fags for Herself. I didn’t repeat the nappy experience, nor did most of the customers in the shop. Sanity is slowly creeping back into society.
I have learned that there is a new term for the likes of myself – apparently I’m a “Rat Licker“. Frankly that is a name I will carry with pride, along with “Covidiot”.
Back in my school days I had several nicknames [never mind what they were!] and I quickly learned to live with them. On leaving school those names vanished along with the smell of sweaty kids and chalk. Happy times.
Since the Millennium though I seem to have acquired a few new names. The first was “Smoker”. This was a name spat out by various health people and some members of the pubic. It was supposed to label me and shame me into becoming a non-smoker. It didn’t work and I carry the name with pride. To me, the word symbolised a free thinker and someone who isn’t afraid to bend to the submissive herd. That was quickly followed by “Denier” which is supposed to label me as an idiot who doesn’t believe in climate change. This amuses me as of course I believe in climate change – I just don’t think we have any kind of control over it.
So now I’m a “Covidiot” and a “Rat Licker”. At this stage that doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I have become completely inured to all these names as to me they represent the baying of the compliant herd. Once they start calling me names, it means I’m on the right track as name calling is just one of those modern tactics to try to force me to conform.
So bring it on, lads. Let’s hear a few new names.
Sticks and stones …