…..not being recognised by your Iphone

Today Asha and I were at the beginning of our journey to the mall. Should we have been going to a crowded place in these days of the pandemic? Well, that is another question. Anyway, I was waiting outside our apartment block for her and time was progressing so I decided to call her. No answer. Again, no answer. When we did speak, she told me the reason for non-communication was that her new, top of the range iPhone 11 did not recognise her, and she had forgotten the passcode. The reason it didn’t recognise her was because she was wearing a mask.

So where was Siri, you might ask? Why was not possible to say to Siri – hey Siri, why doesn’t the phone recognise me? And why isn’t the phone clever enough to recognise its owner when they are wearing a mask? Charlie, our averagely intelligent Cavalier King Charles spaniel can.

...a teacher not wearing a mask in the classroom.

With all the fear about the virus going around, everyone needs to wear a face mask. 100 per cent of the students in my class were wearing one during the last in-class lesson I had. Is a mask something like a hat that one might remove during the lesson? I don't think so.  I have a box of face masks - we bought some just before all the shops sold all their stock overnight. My wife suggested wearing a mask. It was already in my mind. Somehow or other, creative writing delivered through a mask seemed to send the wrong message in the past, but now it is quite normal and must be done. For a Maths teacher, however - no problem. This is a subject which is masked in mystery anyway.