Sideswipe: November 10: The boss is cleaning up the streets

Cuddle buddy allowed

With some of the highest cumulative cases per 100,000 in Europe and a record number of hospital admissions, Belgium has returned to a national lockdown. Belgium's pandemic lockdown rules stipulate that everyone gets one "knuffelcontact" (cuddle buddy) to help maintain mental health. People living alone get two. In May, Holland's lockdown rules allowed for a "seksbuddy". Small talk is also an important part of mental health and well-being. Building rapport with strangers can leave people feeling heard, respected and emotionally validated. These random opportunities to engage in small talk can help boost moods and erode loneliness. Researchers who study relationships sometimes define loneliness as feeling as though the quantity and quality of social interactions you participate in don't live up to what you'd like them to be.

Happy and sad

1. According to a Dutch study, the three most cheering songs to listen to are:
Don't Stop Me Now, Queen, Dancing Queen, Abba and Good Vibrations, The Beach Boys.
2.The Mexican city of San Juan del Rio hosts an annual weeping competition with a prize for the best mourner. This year's entries were submitted by video, with one competitor sobbing about the menopause and addressing tears to her departed period.

There's an idea

Avoid splashing or spittle

A reader writes: "My Dad, born 1902, always walked on the edge of the pavement. It was to save the ladies being splashed by the horse-drawn conveyances of the time. Even when the horses were long gone, he never changed that routine, just as he always took his hat off when talking to those of the opposite sex." Tom Hepburn writes: "Not sure about etiquette as such but when I was living in Britain (60 years ago), yes, when with a lady(ies) a man always walked on the pavement edge. This so he could spit in the gutter, thus avoiding ladies' shoes."