Bob McNamara, Upham

Kind of that time of year again. Colds, flu, viruses, etc. I was in a store recently when I overheard someone greet an acquaintance of theirs. As with many greetings he simply greeted her with a Hi, how are you these days. At which point she told him she’d been sick off and on for about a month. Evidently she just couldn’t shake this “bug” she had.

What she didn’t have is a mask. Would seem to me that we would have learned that if you are feeling sick maybe you should put on a mask in public. That way those who aren’t sick are less likely to be subjected to the germs you are carrying. It is probably not their responsibility but it would be great if those who treat people would give their patient a mask and tell them to wear it in public so they don’t infect others.

My guess is some people need reminding. I don’t think anyone wants to go back to the days of mass mask wearing so if you feel sick put on a mask and show concern for the rest of society.

As I write this the twelve days of Christmas have just ended and we are in the second week of the new year. It is an election year so I expect all the good will, if there was any, of the Christmas season will soon be forgotten and the knives will be out every day trying to nick the other guy — whoever the other guy may be. One has to wonder if all those who were quick to say “remember the reason for the season” will remember what that season is about the rest of this year.

Everyone likes to talk about the good old days when everything was cheap. Seems the national price of a gallon of gas in 1970 was 36 cents. Earlier this week the national price was just about 3 dollars and 10 cents. I’m not much on math but I wonder what .36 in 1970 would be in today’s dollars. My guess it would probably be close to $3.00.

While I don’t know for certain how much in 2023 dollars 36 cents is, what I do know is in the end of 1970 I made .90 an hour so I got a couple of gallons of gas for an hour’s work. Today if I make $9.00 an hour I get a couple gallons of gas for an hour’s work. I’m not sure things change as much as people think they do. Inflation is real but it would be nice if we saw more facts and less scare tactics in the media.