Covid face mask freedom means you can wear or not wear them as you wish – Susan Morrison

We both reached for the packet of frozen chips at the same time.

Covid face masks are no longer legally required in places like shops and restaurants or on public transport (Picture: Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

She laughed, I laughed, we said oops, sorry, and then both picked up completely different bags. I straightened up and thought something’s a bit weird here and then realised.

Neither of us were wearing masks.

To be clear, I’d completely forgotten to mask up. I had been rambling around the Kirkgate, suddenly remembered the command to source oven chips, and veered into the supermarket, all on auto-pilot.

Such slips of concentration happened during the Great Unpleasantness, but usually a sea of masks reminded me to cover up. I looked about. There were hardly any.

My hand shot straight into my pocket for the mask, then I had a bit of a bicker with myself. Mask? No mask? The freezer aisle was empty. The supermarket was pretty quiet. The doors were open and fresh air was circulating about. I put the mask back.

Immediately I expected our Great Leader in Holyrood to leap from the chiller cabinet and smack me with a fine but then I remembered that we don’t have to anymore. It's our decision.

This is about the worst thing you can do to me. Making my mind up is an agonising process. I’ve been known to burst into tears trying to decide which ice cream I want in Luca’s. Well, we all have.

I’ve missed that human moment of smiling at each other, so I think I’ll leave my mask off now. It stays in my pocket, though, because I’ll stick it on for crowded spaces and buses.

In fact, I’ll probably wear one in future if I get a cold or a sniffle, since I know I won’t be spreading those diseases with coughs and sneezes. That’s a snappy slogan. Someone should slap that on a poster.

If people chose to continue to wear their masks, so what? They’ve probably got a million reasons why they need to keep themselves safe and it’s doing me no harm.

Let’s all cut each other a bit of slack. Mask, no mask, now it's personal. Let's not judge.