Today I had to wait in for a phone call. It eventually came at 10:30am for which I was glad as it left the rest of the day free.

The caller was one of the doctors at our local surgery, checking on my progress. I mentioned (see Just around the square to the deli) that I was suffering from an ailment and though I haven’t referred to it in the meantime, it has been there in the background. Today’s phone call was to confirm that I was now officially well again and ready to be dismissed from care.

This, it seems, is how we practise medicine in a time of Covid: consultations are conducted by phone and prescriptions sent electronically to a pharmacy of your choice.

What if you need your blood pressure checking? Well, then you repair to the surgery where there is a machine for that purpose in the waiting room. It disgorges a paper slip which is eventually seen by the doctor.

To be fair, though, I did have a face-to-face meeting with a doctor at the beginning and was examined appropriately.

I have already remarked more on a phenomenon of our pre-Covid times that puzzled me. This was the proliferation of barbershops. There suddenly seemed to be one, and sometimes several, is every shopping area. I wondered then whether they could all make a living with so much competition and I imagine the long weeks of enforced closure can only have made survival more difficult for them. Today, then, I set out to do a quick survey of the barbershops in the immediate area.

Chapel Market

I think this one is called “Vibe”. It’s name is hard to read and illegible signage is a pet hate of mine. This one follows the modern trend of barbershops in claiming that what it provides is “grooming”. I think grooming is something you do to dogs and horses and I would avoid any establishment wanting to groom me, thank you very much.

White Lion Street

This is not, strictly speaking, a barbershop. You can’t have a shave here or have you hair shampooed. All they do is cut your your hair, as the name of the establishment – Cutting Bar – suggests. The service is quick (they usually have up to six hair-cutters working) and cheap. This is where Tigger and I go to have our hair cut. Usually, at least half the staff are female. In a world where male haircuts now start at £25, a haircut for £9 is not to be sniffed at.

Anwell Street (1)

This one, ELT, is the first of three barbers in Amwell Street. Amwell Street is a very quiet street, some of whose shops open by appointment only, if at all. I think that one barber would have a hard time making a living but three is simply absurd. This is the one that offers customers a free beer with their haircut.

Amwell Street (2)

Turkish barbers seem to enjoy a special reputation and many barbers on London describe themselves as Turkish or hint that they are by their choice of name. This one is following that trend. I notice that outside it is a house agent’s sign advertising a property for rent. Whether the refers to the shop or to an apartment in the building is not clear. Time will tell.

Amwell Street (3)

This is the third barber’s in Amwell Street. Before the pandemic struck, it seemed fairly successful and again, briefly, when shops were allowed to open before lockdown was reimposed. It remains to be seen whether it can recover its success again.

Rosebery Avenue

This barbershop, at the top end of Rosebery Avenue, is an old established business. It’s been here a long, long time though I don’t know how long. In my time, it was always decorated in red and blue but, to my surprise, the decor has been changed when I wasn’t looking! I used to come here myself before we adopted the Cutting Bar but often found it closed so gave up on it. Perhaps the new decor indicates new owners with a more energetic approach. I hope so as it deserves to survive.

St John Street (1)

This is the barber’s that, during the first lockdown, left its red and white sign rotating, possibly as a sign of hope. Since then there has been a change of name and, presumably, of owner. It is still wearing its Christmas costume which is a bad sign as it suggests neglect. Time will tell whether it can been roused from its slumber and its sign set spinning again.

St John Street (2)

Yes, this one is a bit of a cheat because, at the moment, it’s not a barber’s or, indeed, anything else. But it was a barber’s, albeit for a very short time. Perhaps it was edged out by competition.

That by no means exhausts the list of barbers in the neighbourhood and as you expand your area so you discover more and more. Whether they will all survives remains to be seen, especially with “cutting bars” popping up like mushrooms in response to the price-inflation in men’s “grooming rooms”.

And now, here, for your delectation, is a self-portrait.

How we dress for Covid
(Hat optional)

We now inhabit a strange world where face masks, far from being an eccentricity, are standard dress. We read that research showed that the eyes are an important vector for the Covid virus and that people who wore spectacles were less likely to become infected than non-spectacle wearers. This inspired Tigger to buy us protective spectacles of the sort worn in laboratories. The interesting thing is that they provoke absolutely no reaction from other people. We do, after all, live in peculiar times when eccentricity comes almost as standard.

The only problem with these spectacles is that, in combination with a face mask, they tend to steam up in cold weather (so do ordinary spectacles, of course). I have found that putting washing-up liquid on the inside surface of the lenses and then wiping them clean with a clean tissue seems to help. So would a demister cloth also, no doubt.

As I was writing those last few words, Tigger arrived home from work and I am off to make tea for us both. Cheers!