Interesting.

Lots of bare shelves around here and it's started to get quieter. Less cars on the streets, fewer pedestrians. They may not have closed schools, but it's obvious that parents are keeping their kids home, because the school run was almost non-existent today.

I've got to go to Newport tomorrow for a medical procedure classified as urgent (or they wouldn't even have scheduled it). They moved it up a day as it is. I'm not happy to be heading to a hospital for an out-patient procedure...not only am I worrying about the results, but I worry about getting infected as well. It is what it is.

People with symptoms would be dealt with separately, I'd think (and have they checked with you that you don't have symptoms?) And hospitals are all already set up for frequent hand washing.

And thankfully I'm still symptom free. I've purposely just about self-isolated anyway. Other than the hospital, I've only been out to get petrol. After I get back tomorrow, I'm locking the door until summer, lol

Hope tomorrow is smooth and uneventful as possible.

(1 of 3 in a town of about 25,000). I could see several people with a couple of packs of toilet paper, and not much else, leaving as I arrived (by foot; queue for the car park). TP looked gone when I went past the aisle (though I wasn't interested, so only glanced). Pasta was nearly gone, and since I wanted a pack last week and couldn't get one, I got one of the few remaining. Meat was a lot less than you'd expect, especially so soon after opening, but with queues at all checkouts, they may have just been concentrating on clearing those before restocking shelves. Bread was fully available. Tinned goods were a bit sparse; fresh veg as normal.

It seems to me we're being asked to have a week's worth of food in our houses at all time, in case we have to self-isolate, or maybe even 2 for multiple-occupancy households (though if one member gets symptoms, it might seem reasonable for another without symptoms to do one shop that day to see them to the end of the 2 weeks, to me - thoughts?), unless food deliveries can be guaranteed.

Panic buying is in full swing in the supermarkets near my work. As in at least one scuffle was seen today by work colleagues on lunch break. Although the first panic buying I witnessed was a week and a half ago now so it's been going on for a bit.

Lots of firms moving to working from home / skeleton staff etc. And if you work in a pub or restaurant our Prime Minister has really dropped you in deep in the brown stuff.

If he had actually ordered pubs and restaurants and cafes to close, they would presumably have been able to claim some insurance. Instead, he's just advised people not to use them, which means they're massively losing business, but with no right to claim insurance.

We've been self-isolating since Saturday evening.

When we went shopping on Saturday the shops were busy-ish - pretty much everything was available - stacks of unsold toilet roll everywhere.

The local farms are laying on deliveries of veg, meat & milk. Most pubs and cafes are open - some are delivering meals.

We are pretty much self isolating as much as we can cause the virus is about 6 weeks ahead of the rest of the country here. The panic buying is ridiculous. If you do not get to the supermarket when it opens at 7 and are willing to queue for hours it is a real problem - the yummy mummies are like locusts. As I am self distancing to protect my partner who has significant underlying health issues being that close to others is a real problem. Still I have figured out that no-one panic buys at a Marks and Spencers in a train station and I am pretty much next door to one, so still have access to the essentials!!!

Lucky to have local shops very nearby (small businesses and the Co-op). They are doing some rationing of paper products and a few other high-demand items, but no actual shortages. The city supermarkets have far more availability problem - it's said, because some people come in their cars and buy massive amounts. The local shops are great, actually; one has offered a free home delivery service for self-isolating locals. As they're more likely to have the goods you need AND with less of a germ risk as they're less crowded, I think I'll be using just these shops for the duration (unless I have to completely self-isolate and possibly do some shopping online).

Stay safe and healthy, everyone.

I went to the village medical centre last week for a routine blood pressure check. The waiting room was empty apart from one older woman, which is unusual. All the magazines that are usually stacked on a central table had disappeared, as had the box of kids' toys that's usually available. The radio that's usually playing was off. When you arrive, a notice at the reception point usually asks you to ring a bell for attention that's just inside the glass hatch. This time, the hatch was closed and a notice asked you to knock on the window. At no point when I was talking to the receptionist was the window opened. My consultation went much as usual, with some additional chit-chat about the coronavirus. They'd done a deep clean of all areas and were battening down the hatches. When I went back to reception to schedule my next appointment, the receptionist signed off wryly with "I think it''ll get worse before it gets better."

The village pharmacy was much as normal. A guy who signed for his prescription before me did half-jokingly point out that there was a shared pen with no apparent signs of precautionary sanitizing.

I went to do our weekly shop yesterday. My first stop was Aldi in the Vale of Leven, where I normally just get some lines we can't get elsewhere and stock up on beer (my favourite is usually a lot cheaper there than anywhere else). A sign at the door said that all shoppers were restricted to two items of any one line, to try to make sure everyone could get some. To my relief, for beer this was extended to four of any one type. There was no frenzy, and though I didn't check out what was available in terms of fresh veg etc. (I would have if I'd known what was to come), I didn't notice any empty shelves.

Next stop was Morrisons in Dumbarton. Again, it wasn't particularly busy, though there were quite a few folks wandering round with trollies looking a bit bewildered. There hasn't been any dispenser hand soap for a couple of weeks now. The veg section had been practically stripped bare, with just some salads and stray more slightly exotic veg left, but I got the last bag of new potatoes and the last two rather scrawny lemons. Staples like leeks and carrots were gone. There wasn't a scrap of toilet paper left, and just a few rolls of a pricey premium heavy-duty kitchen towel. There were no canned tomatoes, and there was no pasta left in the store, fresh or dried. I got the last couple of cans of evaporated milk (we usually use it in coffee, but others no doubt look on it as a long-term storage item). There was plenty of Morrisons own-bake bread.

I stopped in the Helensburgh Co-op on the way home, hoping to top up on what I'd been unable to get earlier. Again, the veg section was more or less stripped bare. I managed to pick up some lemons, of which they had plenty, and a couple of baking potatoes, which were among the two or three packs left. Again, there were no canned tomatoes nor pasta. There was no toilet roll nor kitchen towel left, and the bread shelves were empty. As with Aldi and Morrisons, there was plenty of booze. Expect that to change if there are pub closures.

The last time I've seen anything like this was during and in the aftermath of The Beast from the East storm a few years ago, when supply lines were cut after heavy, prolonged snowfall. I hope the shelves will be replenished after the week's deliveries, and that those who've felt the need to stock up will then lay back a bit and leave some for those of us who've tried not to over-react. Failing that, the other supermarkets should follow Aldi's lead and restrict the number of particular items you can buy at once.

Last edited Sat Mar 21, 2020, 02:38 AM - Edit history (2)

Ocado and Waitrose are both locking up. Waitrose sort of randomly (Probably load related), but Ocado is freezing you out unless you already have a delivery scheduled.

Seems like we have some serious supply chain issues beginning to surface.

About 40% of the businesses in town (Moreton-in-marsh) are either closed till the end of the month or are now operating under reduced hours.

Listened to the government update today - hopefully some of the interventions will help a bit. Financially, we can hold out for about 9 months - so a bit better than most, but it's pretty clear the shit-storm is just beginning.

On a happier note - Birdland in Bourton-on-the-water is remaining open for a while, so we can go hang out with the penguins for a spirit lift!

UPDATE: nope...Birdland now closed as well

Production has been heavily disrupted due to so many places being in lockdown and so many firms being either short staffed or on skeleton staff. So yes there are supply issues. And panic buying has only exacerbated things.

The mass move to working from home has also created a number of IT related problems.

And things are probably still due to get worse. With no pubs to drown our sorrows now either!

and it causes me to reflect how much I really do appreciate the relative safety of my little cotswold town.

I know we are all going tough times - but we all really need to stay vigilant and compliant with the NHS guidelines.

The Emergency care teams in Detroit are up against it at the moment - and I sincerely don't want that to happen here in the UK.

Anything we can do to reduce the pressure on the NHS should be considered our upmost priority.

Folks,

I'm in a small town, which is usually quiet and now silent. I'm an old guy, retired, and my wife is here with me. Our daughter and grandchildren are on a farm and sound really happy in the phone calls.

OK, there is boredom and a lurking fear, although people we meet on our walks are mostly friendly with some supportive words (2 metres of course). Our county has around 200,000 population and 40 CV tested cases as we speak.

Worst personal things? Worry about our kids and everyone else's; I'm drinking too much, can't ride my motorcycles without feeling guilty even though the roads are clearer that I can remember since the 1960s.

Best things? Our Tory prime minister has used the words 'collective' and 'compassion' and has said that 'There really is such a thing as society'. I nearly fell off my perch!

Keep safe,

D.