27th January - Plan B easing - observations and usage

[ABB125]

I'm going to the UniBrass competition in Sheffield tomorrow. In order to compete, all participants mast show proof of two negative coronavirus tests in the previous 72 hours, and must ear a mask at all times (apart from when playing obviously! I haven't tried myself, but I imagine playing a trumpet through a mask is somewhat... challenging ). I don't know if this is a requirement of the organisers of the competition, or Sheffield's Student Union. Unfortunately, I may accidentally forget to bring a mask...

In an update on this, very few people are wearing masks. Which is nice.

 

[alastair]

Used 4 SWR trains, 2 Southern and 1 GW today. all felt pretty "normal", no more than 25% masked on any train. The unmasked guard on SWR announcing "please wear a mask" (from a script) did make me smile...

 

[jumble]

I had the misfortune to be subject to LNER's awful messaging today which spoilt the start of the journey.

The bad news is many of the unmasked passengers near me put masks on when the Guard made a threatening announcement shortly before departure, but the good news is that when I walked through the train later in the journey the vast overwhelming majority were unmasked


The whole thing is pointless, but I am pleased to say that something like 99% of secondary school kids are NOT wearing masks based on my observations

2 Family members travelled from KGX to Newcastle today on LNER
I asked them to report and am pleased to say there was no one wearing a mask and there were no aggressive announcements

 

[bramling]

Some of the managers are very pro-mask, and they post their views prominently on Twitter.

Most LNER passengers do not wear masks, so they are flogging a dead horse

There does seem to be a disproportionate interest in masks from some LNER staff.

I’ve been aware of two separate LNER staff who use my local (GTR) station to travel to work. Since summer 2020 they will without fail appear completely masked up, to the point where there’s barely a slit for their eyes, and this includes at 0500 on a Saturday morning when the place is virtually deserted. One can add dirty looks to the whole package, I’ve had to bite my tongue on more than one occasion.

I wonder how they manage to pass through the gateline, where the GTR staff tend to have masks on but most of the time round the chin.

 

[yorkie]

2 Family members travelled from KGX to Newcastle today on LNER
I asked them to report and am pleased to say there was no one wearing a mask and there were no aggressive announcements

Good to hear. On my train she was not aggressive but she was impolite and came across as trying to make people feel guilty.

There is also inappropriate signage at LNER stations, which the vast majority of passengers are ignoring.

 

[Class 33]

Just been to Asda and back on the bus. A short report of my observations.....

Bus journey there - Maybe about 30 or so people on there during the journey. Only about 10% of them were wearing masks.

Asda - Only about 5% of customers wearing masks. Yes you read that correctly, that is not a typo, only about 5% of customers wearing masks! Not only that, but I didn't hear a single PA announcement going on about face masks and social distancing/keep your distance. Nor did I see even a single sign about face masks and social distancing/keep your distance. Looks like they've all been completely removed. Great stuff! Some other supermarkets/shops could learn a thing or two from Asda I think! "Asda, setting a great example to get back to normal!".

Bus journey back - Fairly busy going back. Probably about 65 or so people on there during the journey. Mask wearers were very few and far between. Probably only about 5% of passengers were wearing them!

 

[superalbs]

Stansted Airport departure lounge, roughly 50%! Shame it'll be so much worse on the plane, though I understand why it will be!

 

[MikeWM]

Stansted Airport departure lounge, roughly 50%! Shame it'll be so much worse on the plane, though I understand why it will be!

I was there an hour ago (!) and agree it was much less masky than I expected

(I was passing through when changing between rail replacement bus and train, not flying anywhere, but I'd not been in an airport for two years, so figured I'd have a quick look)

 

[Tracked]

Went to Derby yesterday, very few masks out on the DON-SHF Northern train and very few on the SHF-DBY EMR train either despite most seats being full (although the interior of my carriage was so scruffy I wonder if people were wearing masks to keep the dirt out!). There were more on the XC back to SHF and the Northern SHF-DON trains in the evening, though the services didn't seem as busy.

Visited a few pubs as part of the trip, and I did notice there were quite a few people wearing them into the pub until they sat down, rarely seen it round here since last summer and - with one exception that I've mentioned on here before, and I get the impression they're doing it for the attention rather than for any benefit, given that it comes off every time they have a drink ... - it's not the regular customers; it generally seems to be real ale drinkers visiting the town (various ages too) and if there's any it's a couple all afternoon at the most, rather than in the time it took to drink a pint/half/third as happened a couple of times yesterday.

 

[Watershed]

No masks in sight on a shortformed Buxton service I took the other day. It was full and standing and I think some people were left behind.

 

[yorksrob]

Yesterday was a normal Saturday like pre-pandemic times. Full trains, full pubs and busy football grounds.

Barely a face covering in sight.

 

[johntea]

Grand Central still asking passengers to wear face coverings ‘out of courtesy for others’ via the manual guard spiel and signs still stuck up on board…

The guard was not wearing one also I’m off to London and unfortunately for Sadiq forgot to bring any with me

 

[island]

40% or so mask-wearing on my Avanti service this morning. I got off before it got to Scotland.

 

[yorkie]

Grand Central still asking passengers to wear face coverings ‘out of courtesy for others’ via the manual guard spiel and signs still stuck up on board…

Not wearing a mask is being respectful of others; these ridiculous announcements need to stop.

I travelled yesterday on LNER, Northernz CrossCountry and TPE.

LNER had the most mask wearers but they were still in the minority. Virtually no-one wearing them on Northern and TPE.

The only company making inappropriate mask announcements on the 4 trains I caught was LNER.

 

[daniep01]

Not wearing a mask is being respectful of others;

Couldn’t agree more, 2019 normal can’t come soon enough. I’ve been following this forum for months without commenting. I’m encouraged and thankful that there are at least some like minded people in the world.

 

[DustyBin]

Our local Sainsbury's has always been a bit of a mask stronghold, obviously not helped this time around by the continued use of notices and announcements. Over the weekend however mask wearing has reduced significantly, down to (approximately) 50% from 95% the same time last week. It was notable that at least half of the staff were unmasked too. I got talking to a nice young lady in the bread aisle who was masked, but removed it during our (light hearted and amusing!) conversation only to put it back on again as she walked away; slightly bizarre but hey ho!

 

[initiation]

I was in London on saturday. Train from Temple Meads was rammed, 50/50 masks.
Several tube journeys. Usage was 50/50, possibly 60/40 in favour of masks.

One thing I did notice was the greater number of people wearing them outside - still low in overall % terms but noticably higher than Bristol.

Every pub we went to was rammed with food stalls and shops busy. Felt quite normal which was great.

 

[MikeWM]

One thing I did notice was the greater number of people wearing them outside - still low in overall % terms but noticably higher than Bristol.

A lot of them are tourists I think. You see a lot more around Leicester Square/Oxford Street than pretty much anywhere else.

If you go to non-touristy bits it really falls off (I was in Romford on Saturday for a bit, and there was very little outside masking. And not a vast amount inside either

 

[102 fan]

Stansted Airport departure lounge, roughly 50%! Shame it'll be so much worse on the plane, though I understand why it will be!

Until food or drink is served....

 

[davetheguard]

Grand Central still asking passengers to wear face coverings ‘out of courtesy for others’

Had the same on a trip to Bristol last week on a GWR Castle set. Pre-recorded announcement, not the Guard.

The majority of people, including me, were not complying. But quite why GWR think trying to make their customers feel guilty is an acceptable action for a railway company (or any other customer facing business for that matter) is beyond me.

 

[bramling]

A quite noticeable drop in mask use on LU from what I saw today. I didn’t go on any busy trains, however of the ones I went on it was typical for mask use to be around 10-20%. I even got on a train leaving Battersea Power Station station where there were 10 in the car and not a mask in sight. Very low on stations too.

Similar on a brief visit to a small Sainsbury’s.

There are some interesting variations. The High Barnet branch seems to have comparatively high mask use compared to elsewhere, for example.

Didn’t see any of Khan’s enforcement today.

 

[Cdd89]

I can’t get my head around mask usage. I have been on busy trains during the daytime with both 90% and 10% usage. The least likely percentage appears to be 50!

 

[bramling]

I can’t get my head around mask usage. I have been on busy trains during the daytime with both 90% and 10% usage. The least likely percentage appears to be 50!

I do think there’s an element of follow-my-leader. So if there are people without masks then others will follow, but some people don’t want to be the odd one out.

 

[stanpotts]

After a week of lectures, the following seems to be the situation at my university:

• The Music Society still has the same copy-and-paste message about wearing a mask etc at the bottom of every email. One or two people are wearing masks at choir rehearsals (which somewhat affects your ability to sing...). I observed one of the theatre groups having a committee meeting - everyone was wearing a mask
• I'm going to the UniBrass competition in Sheffield tomorrow. In order to compete, all participants mast show proof of two negative coronavirus tests in the previous 72 hours, and must ear a mask at all times (apart from when playing obviously! I haven't tried myself, but I imagine playing a trumpet through a mask is somewhat... challenging ). I don't know if this is a requirement of the organisers of the competition, or Sheffield's Student Union. Unfortunately, I may accidentally forget to bring a mask...

A small world! I was helping run UniBrass on Saturday (you probably walked past me several times, I was the one attempting to keep order on stage). I don't think we were going to please everybody - I wasn't involved in writing the rules about testing but I was aware that there was a balance between keeping people who are still a bit concerned comfortable while also not being too onerous with any rules (e.g. I was very pleased to not see any checking of vaccination status).

I hope you enjoyed your day.

 

[Huntergreed]

A small world! I was helping run UniBrass on Saturday (you probably walked past me several times, I was the one attempting to keep order on stage). I don't think we were going to please everybody - I wasn't involved in writing the rules about testing but I was aware that there was a balance between keeping people who are still a bit nervous comfortable while also not being too onerous with any rules (e.g. I was very pleased to not see any checking of vaccination status).

I hope you enjoyed your day.

Music teacher from Scotland here! The world is much smaller than it seems isn’t it!

I’m glad! Just try and make sure masks and testing aren’t required at any future music competition! I’ve had extensive chats with my own pupils who (mostly) all agree that these would put them off from future events

 

[stanpotts]

Music teacher from Scotland here! The world is much smaller than it seems isn’t it!

I’m glad! Just try and make sure masks and testing aren’t required at any future music competition! I’ve had extensive chats with my own pupils who (mostly) all agree that these would put them off from future events

Yes, we (the volunteers/organisers) were all in agreement afterwards that come next year we really, really, don't want to have anything to do with masks or checking testing results again! If nothing else it adds another layer of admin to what is already a very complex day.

 

[Huntergreed]

Yes, we (the volunteers/organisers) were all in agreement afterwards that come next year we really, really, don't want to have anything to do with masks or checking testing results again! If nothing else it adds another layer of admin to what is already a very complex day.

A very sensible opinion in my view

 

[kingston_toon]

A few observations from a weekend of beer and bashing around Birmingham, travelling up from London...

* As noted by another poster further up, I would tend to agree the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line has seen higher levels of mask-wearing than elsewhere on LU throughout. However, a southbound journey at 17:00 on Friday only had 5 people wearing masks out of 20 in our carriage arriving into Kentish Town.
* Thameslink Kentish Town - Blackfriars - London Bridge at 17:30 Friday was 50/50 on each, but both trains felt almost pre-pandemic busy, possibly due to the reduced timetables but good to see nonetheless.
* 11:00 Saturday Chiltern Marylebone - Birmingham Moor Street: We were in the front carriage which had almost all seats taken (rest of the train also looked busy) and there were only a handful of masks being worn, despite many different groups / individuals sharing tables.
* Various local rail and bus services around Birmingham on Saturday and Sunday, mask wearing appeared much lower than London, and on several busy train journeys I saw no masks at all. Never more than 20% though.
* 20:17 Sunday Chiltern Birmingham Moor Street - Marylebone: Again we sat in the front carriage on this busy 3-car service, with mask wearing around 40% (seemed to be mostly students wearing them).
* Northern line home on Sunday night - only two others in the carriage, one with a mask one without.

So my purely anecdotal evidence suggests numbers wearing masks are reducing, while at the same time leisure demand appears to be strong and growing back towards pre-Covid levels.

 

[ABB125]

A small world! I was helping run UniBrass on Saturday (you probably walked past me several times, I was the one attempting to keep order on stage). I don't think we were going to please everybody - I wasn't involved in writing the rules about testing but I was aware that there was a balance between keeping people who are still a bit concerned comfortable while also not being too onerous with any rules (e.g. I was very pleased to not see any checking of vaccination status).

I hope you enjoyed your day.

Very small world!
I did indeed enjoy the day - it's the first UniBrass competition I've been too, so all a new experience. The, erm, rowdiness at the awards ceremony was certainly entertaining, and I'm told that it was mild compared to "normal" times! Shame Birmingham only came 6th, but given the amount of rehearsal we have compared with some other institutions (*cough cough* Birmingham Conservatoire *cough cough*) and the fact that we're unauditioned (hence why I'm there! ), I don't think it was too bad. Roll on next year!

Yes, we (the volunteers/organisers) were all in agreement afterwards that come next year we really, really, don't want to have anything to do with masks or checking testing results again! If nothing else it adds another layer of admin to what is already a very complex day.

I hope that by next year all signs of masks etc will be long forgotten!

 

[Huntergreed]

I always enjoy a good brass competition, and unibrass usually never fail to disappoint!

Personally, I found it a huge disappointment that they insisted on masks and Tests (completely unneccessary!) this year (really dampened my view on what is otherwise a fantastic annual competition) but the atmosphere is great!

You’ll never beat us though