One––admittedly minor but, nevertheless, unanticipated––consequence of the coronavirus pandemic is that I have been forced to reorganise my chest of drawers.

I normally keep a fairly ordered regime regarding my drawers.  Not quite Marie Kondo, but not far off.  Top drawer, t-shirts; middle drawer, socks and pants; bottom drawer, sweaters.  Shirts and trousers?  I’m glad you asked.  They go in my wardrobe.  However, since the start of the pandemic, I find myself having to accommodate a new item of clothing: face masks.

If you had asked me a few months ago where I keep my masks, I would have thought you were barmy.  Until as recently as last year, I believed that the only people who wore masks outside in public were East Asians; bank robbers; and Bane.

But now I must add myself to the ranks of the mask-wearers.  In fact, I have amassed quite a collection.  Hence the need for a place in my chest of drawers.

Much of my mask collection has occurred as a result of inexperience.  First I didn’t know what size to buy; then what colour to suit; then what brand to sport.  Fairly late on, I realised that I should really be making some choices based on health considerations, too.

In the end, I have cleared a small space next to my socks.  My socks are not particularly happy about this––some readers of my blog will already know that my socks can be quite vocal in their opinions––it has taken them long enough to cope with the adjustment of sharing with my pants, but needs must.

Hopefully, the coronavirus pandemic will pass and, with it, so will the necessity to wear masks.  Then I can clear a space next to my socks in my drawer once again, and consign my masks to the same black hole that contains my old codpieces, frock coats, and ruffs.

© Simon Turner-Tree

Simon Turner-Tree is something of a victim to fashion.