'When all the archetypes burst out shamelessly, we plumb Homeric profundity. Two clichés make us laugh but a hundred clichés move us because we sense dimly that the clichés are talking among themselves, celebrating a reunion.'
- Umberto Eco, Travels in Hyperreality

‘The World Health Organization (WHO) is considering changing its guidance on whether people should wear face masks in public, prompted by new evidence that suggests doing so could help contain the pandemic.’
- Hannah Devlin and Denis Campbell

Looking through my drafts I found this micro - an unusable remnant from a longer piece about keeping up appearances. A word written without a second thought to connote pretence or disguise, now gives me reason to pause. To mask, or not to mask, that is the question. :§