A Nation Of Mumblers.

An audible challenge.

Many many moons ago I remember vividly how my grandfather used to often remind me;

" Biggi, stop mumbling and speak clearly. "

well, words to lend favour for being rather introvert. I could never understand how he couldn't understand me and come to think of it, many of my uncles and aunts seemed to follow in his footsteps but thankfully not mum. That would have been a clincher. Oh no, she understood me...mumbling and all!

To this day I have a sad habit of speaking slightly louder and more clearly when I converse with someone older than me. Don't you want to cringe when you witness older folks being talked to as if they couldn't hear at all? Not everyone is hard of hearing...

Anyway, this afternoon I took someone in their 80's to the local doctors and it was too comical. First off, everyone wore masks and gloves, all very above board when it comes to corona. Thankfully I was told to wait outside while they were seeing to her. Not a step into the doctor's rooms. Yeah. The sunshine beckoned me from across the road and that was where I waited for her.

The windows of the rooms were slightly ajar so I couldn't help but overhear them ask questions, above and beyond the normal decible. Was it so loud because she was older or because the mask dampened any over-enthusiastic speech?

Naturally I meandered out of earshot but it got me thinking about how all of us are going to communicate with each other now that we are corona-clad? Hard to breathe in these masks most of the time but holding a longer conversation might prove to be a problem. Somehow it seems that we might be faced with more than just physical social distancing....

Biggi