We had a fab time at the beach yesterday, Betty absolutely loved it, she was racing around like a loon, digging big holes in the sand and even darting in and out of the sea, but only in the shallows (she doesn't do that normally, seems a bit scared of the waves). Despite the beautiful blue sky and glorious sunshine, there was a bitterly cold wind - by the time we'd finished our walk (about 1.5 hours) my face was so frozen I could hardly speak. It was good to sit back in the car, eat our lunch and have a hot drink, we had a nice view as we were right in front of the sea. The sunshine and the fact of it being an open space (as opposed to closed in places like shops etc) had brought out lots of people - the car park and beach was far more crowded than we've ever seen it on a weekday and at this time of year.
After lunch we drove to a supermarket, I only needed a couple of things I'd forgotten last week, we're well stocked up other than those 2 or 3 things. Up till then I'd not really noticed many empty shelves - stocks of lots of things were low, and no hand sanitiser or paracetamol, but that was about it. Well, the shop yesterday was decimated, I was quite shocked, it looked like they'd had no deliveries of pretty much anything for a couple of weeks (I'm sure they had, they'd just sold out). There were empty shelves everywhere in the shop, pretty much every aisle (can't speak for the alcohol aisle, I didn't go down there).
The things I wanted were white bread flour (I mix it with wholemeal), a dozen eggs and some fresh green veg - there was NO flour, of any kind, whatsoever, only a very few boxes of 6 eggs (I took just one box), no 12s or 15s at all. Not much in the way of fresh veg and fruit either. I did get a couple of cabbages, some broccoli, a bag of potatoes and some pears, but they didn't have much left of anything. I also got another 4 individual trays of dog food - even the pet food shelves were half empty.
We won't need any shopping for a fortnight, but will be running out of things after that. One blog yesterday (think it may have been TrishWish) mentioned that she'd looked at getting a grocery shop delivered but found there were no slots for 3 weeks. I was curious to see if that's the case here, as I was thinking of getting shopping delivered from now on, as we're both in the 'seriously advised to self isolate' group. To my complete shock, the 3 supermarkets I checked have NO delivery slots available at all for the next 3 weeks. It's all very well being told to stay at home, but if you can't get food shopping delivered for weeks to come, what are you supposed to do? Ah, I didn't think to check click and collect.....will just go and do that now.
Right, so only 1 supermarket in our area does click and collect, and by some miracle they do have a few slots available from the middle of next week onwards, but I bet they'll get booked up quickly now that the Government are actually telling us to stay home. At least collecting our shopping outside the store is less risky than going in and doing it ourselves.
Omg, it's really getting frightening now isn't it? How are elderly people confined to home who don't have the internet going to cope? Or even if they do, they can't get a shop delivered for weeks? In our tiny hamlet, we're all a similar age, or older than us....there are a couple of households of young families, with several young children each, so they have more than enough on their plates and we wouldn't expect them to look out for us. It's beginning to feel a bit like the apocalypse.
I think the one thing I will miss the most is not being able to socialise and see friends and family, I know we can keep in touch via phone and internet, but it's not the same as chatting face to face, having a coffee together and having a cuddle.
I suggested to a friend that we wrapped ourselves up and sat in the garden. You have coffee outside cafes why not sit in the garden........ I going to do just that later with a friend.
ReplyDeleteJulie xxxxx
No, it isn’t. We shall not be seeing our granddaughter anytime soon. At this rate, she will be mobile!
ReplyDeleteThe isolation will be the worst of it. At the moment I have enough food for a few weeks but it could get very monotonous. I ordered a large bag of flour online from Shipton Mills. It’s is good bread flour but slightly more expensive. They do small bags but I reckon I need 1.2kg a week for two large loaves so that will last 15 weeks. I have one or two bags of other flours to vary the bread and some seeds. I’m one of those people that keep fairly well stocked anyway. I’m just off to make some carrot and coriander soup for lunch. I suppose when the supermarket run out of fresh herbsI will be using all my dried ones to add flavour.
ReplyDeleteMum seems to have her head screwed on and said this morning what is 3 or 4 months if we survive? Very true! Keep well x
It's getting very scary now, but we all need to keep a cool head. I'm worried for my daughter, who's pregnant, and works in a children's day care centre. Baby is due just as this thing is going to peak, so I'm thinking I won't get to see my first grandchild for quite a while. But, if all the interventions help prevent the spread and the severity, it'll be worth it. I just hope the madness at the supermarkets ends soon - it's getting silly! Take care. xx
ReplyDeleteIt is going to feel very restrictive, that's for sure. There's a whole load of ifs, buts and maybes but really all we can do is live for the now and be really sensible and unselfish. Not nearly as easy as it sounds.
ReplyDeletexx
I thought about you going to the beach yesterday. We often used to go there with our two dogs. We had a walk along Burnham sea front on Sunday afternoon and there were lots of dogs running around on the beach. It is scary, we won't see our young Grandchildren for some time as our sons both live away.
ReplyDeleteI read on someone's blog that as long as older folk are not ordered to stay at home that you can still self isolate in your car and sunshine (if we get get any) is good for us.
Our daughter who lives not far from us said Aldi was manic at 8 30 this morning with lots of empty shelves or very little of what was available. Iceland and Iceland and The Food Warehouse are opening early on Wednesday for an hour or so for older shoppers, does not help those with no transport though.
Take care x
A woman in our area is offering to pick up things folks need when she goes to town.Medicines/groceries .
ReplyDeleteAnd has a list of others that will do the same.
She is leaving a card at local grocery store so people can find her call her. In U.S.
We’ve dropped a letter into the houses on our road, offering to help with shopping etc for anyone, either people self isolating or of being a ‘certain age’ and to join a WhatsApp group for our road.
ReplyDeleteI also had to phone my Mum today and say we wouldn’t be visiting her on Saturday for Mother’s Day weekend. We’ll skype her on Sunday instead.
I agree, what I miss the most is socializing with my sons and friends, going out to lunch, to church. There is no substitute for in person visits. But we will get through this. I am a widow and have self isolated for a week, and now the county says 3 additional weeks!
ReplyDelete