Have you ever stared at a clock face that is caught in a large mirror? Well if you have, you will understand the dilemna that was created, as I sat there in the barber's chair.
It was ten minutes to ten when I entered the shop but when I took my turn in the chair and faced the mirror, the mirror clock's hands showed, apparently, ten minutes past eleven. For crying out loud, I must have been here waiting for over an hour. Crazy!
Slowly the obvious dawned. A flat faced mirror simply reflects the image that is receives. When you are sitting in front of a mirror the lefthand side becomes the righthand side and the right the left side. Well if you want a little more -- the image of everything in front of the mirror is reflected backwards, retracing the path it traveled to get there. Nothing is switching left to right or up or down. Instead, it's being inverted front to back. Facing the mirror the reflection you see represents the photons of light, bouncing back in the same direction from which they came. My Physics teacher would have been proud of me for that.
So, having passed A level physics I smiled at my Barber who was already surrounding me and the chair with his soft silk hair protection sheet. I hadn't been sat there for over a year. During which time I have been my own domestic cutter, and what an uneven mess I made of my golden locks. Barber Bob of course has been shut down for nearly all of the last 12 months. His door remained closed and he simply disappeared. We haven't seen hide nor hair of him during all that time. Now however he is back, moving around the village wearing his mask and hoping that soon he will again be able to supplement his well being by living off his daily labour.
Well today I was back in my usual chair in the small confines of the "shop." And of course wearing my mask.
Up in the corner the TV was on, as normal. It was showing empty tables situated in the streets of Porto and Lisboa. Restaurant managers were giving of their best to the absent public to encourage them to come along and take a coffee at their establishments. I must admit that they seem to be displaying optimism that their requests for customers to return would be heard. Although I understood only one word in a hundred I got the feeling that the current curse was being removed and some normality was being restored to life in Portugal.
My masked Barber was quickly into his job with a Number 1 for my sideburns and a Number 2 machine, buzzing away, for everywhere else. These cutting machines were gently applied all over my head. Our return to normality was quickly established. Our conversation, although masked, was soon back on familar terrority. Football talk doesn't sound much different through a face mask material. Mr. Barber really likes talking about Porto and Benfica and of course any Portuguese guy playing in the Football league. After all my hair cuts I still can't decide whether he is a Sporting Lisbon supporter or Benfica fan. Of course Mourinho gets his moments.
Every type of special cutter is available to him. One moment he is clearing ears and the next shaping eye brows, with a pen-like trimmer. He babbles on continuously and then manages to drop a comment for the fact that he successfully had his first Covid jab last Saturday. He smiled, just visible behind his mask and said. "The second is already planned for the end of the month."
It was good to see him in such form and health. All us old folk hopefully will follow his example.
