In June 2020 I taught groups of masked children who sat under a large poster of Nelson Mandela standing triumphant, fist in the air saying, “Let freedom reign”.  The irony was not lost on me. Outside of the classroom I watched as children were screamed at when a ball they were kicking in the playground crossed over into another bubble.  I passed kids on the stairs, some of whom had dropped their masks below their noses, hoping to inhale some air fresher than that which had been expelled after a cheese and onion pasty at lunch, and watched angry teachers yelling in their faces to pull their masks up “you might as well not wear it” shouted one particularly vexed PE teacher. Well quite.