At the end of last week Rachel told me that she had been to the supermarket and seen that there was no liquid soap on the shelves at all, nor paracetamol, nor toilet rolls. Now, in view of the virus which is on every news report and every newspaper, I can understand the soap, and possibly the paracetamol but toilet paper? Then I saw on Facebook that another supermarket in town had sold out of tea bags, flour and custard cream biscuits. Clearly the belief that us Brits believe that a nice cuppa and a biscuit is the answer to all woes is correct. Apparently, a supermarket in Ely had sold out of tonic water so I suspect that the people of Cambridgeshire are knocking back the Gin and Tonics to take their mind off the crisis. (Should I be considering moving to Ely?)
Am I wrong in believing that supermarkets have well stocked warehouses and restock their shelves every day? Am I going to be the only one who isn't stockpiling essentials? Has anyone else noticed empty shelves? If so, what is selling out fast in your area?
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Warm dry weather has meant that the annual 'first cut of the lawn' has taken place. I did the front lawn on Friday and the back lawn on Saturday, it certainly makes things look tidier out there and it was lovely to see how many plants are starting to come into flower.
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We went to a local-ish pub on Friday evening as they had a live music evening. It was a couple of guitarists that we have seen play before - they are so talented and we spent all evening singing along. Isn't it weird that I haven't listened to Simon and Garfunkel's music for many a year, yet the moment they started the introduction to 'The Boxer', I remembered every single word of the whole song. Yet if I have to remember to buy four things at the shops, I guarantee I will normally come home with only three, the memory is a strange thing isn't it?
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Apparently that is the emoji for curry!
Saturday evening was curry night. We have a group of three couples whose main thing in common is that we all lived in the same street at one point in 1991! The wives first met at the local primary school as our children are all a similar age and the school playground at pick up time is a good place to make new friends. Then the husbands started to play badminton every Tuesday and a social group evolved! We have a routine of getting together a few times a year, taking it in turns to host the evening. We ring for an Indian takeaway meal, share the cost, everyone brings their own drinks - it's a very informal thing but nice to all get together now we have all gradually moved away. I always have to plan what I'm going to wear around the colour of what I order as I guarantee there will always be some food mishap that ends up with me wearing some of my main course!
We had no plans for today, which is a rare thing, a pub in town is hosting a vinyl sale and naturally Paul has to go and visit that - after all, he needs to add to his collection now he has a new record player. But first, a morning dog walk in the country park behind our house, where we noticed a couple of new arrivals on the lake
Two swans, serenely swimming around, the ultimate example of being tranquil above the surface while frantically paddling to keep afloat beneath. A definitive symbol of what we all should be doing: keeping calm and carrying on!
I love your calm, positive attitude :). Your tonic water statistic made me smile; I suspect people are stockpiling not because they think things are going to run out, but because they are trying to cut down on visits to potentially busy places. Great job on the grass-cutting - doesn't it always look so much better? Ours is starting to grow but we've had so much rain it's far too wet to do anything with.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure what's being stockpiled in my area, but I've read it's also toilet paper & hand sanitizer. I laughed at your curry emoji but yes it does on closer inspection look possibility like rice & curry. Lawn cutting!!! I was just grateful that we didn't have shovel snow this week (lol).
ReplyDeleteThe tonic is obviously for its quinine content ...!
ReplyDeleteThe stockpiling is weird, isn't it? I did join a shortish queue for hand sanitizer gel last week, only for the woman is front of me to take the last one. The staff at Boots had it behind the counter and it was one per customer! I do wonder how much loo roll people think they'll need if they have to self-isolate for 14 days ...
Grass cutting this time of year is always a hopeful sign of the arrival of Spring!
I get that the whole world thinks they need supplies for 14 days (or more) in case of quarantine. And concerns about shipping coming to a halt, so stores are not re-stocked. Our stores are sold out of hand sanitizer - I guess people don't understand that it is not a substitute for hand washing and will not kill nearly as many germs... I'd be good in a quarantine for all basic supplies. My only concern would be fresh produce and meat since You can't buy anything in those categories that would last that long!
ReplyDeleteYou would think with all this extra time at home, I would be up on my blog reading! I'm still behind!
ReplyDeleteOMGosh! Thanks to my trips to England I am well stocked in tea! For some people it's coffee, but not me! I can't start my day without tea! I have tea from Twinings in London, Fortnum and Mason, Windsor and Nottingham. I also have tea from Ireland. And then there's my favorite American tea maker, Harney and Sons. I think I'm all set for however long this self-quarantining lasts!! Oh, and we have plenty of tonic for our Sipsmith lemon gin we bought when we were there!