NWR Panic buying - the saga continues...

I went out shopping yesterday in Tooting because being a non-panicker by nature, I had very little food indeed in the house. There were a lot of people out and about (of all ages) and every type of food shop from the market stalls to Aldi was busy and people were indeed stocking up. However, I saw no pushing and shoving, no rudeness, and no impatience while queueing, but people looked worried. I think it's fairly rational for people to stock up given the fast-changing scenario and the likelihood of a lockdown in London if not elsewhere. Strange times.
 
Richard, did you take their photos anyway and put them on social media, calling them "selfish *unts", so that someone else could point out they could have been buying Mars bars for five sets of elderly relatives, sparking a debate about how many Mars bars - and how likely it was that said people had an appropriate number of relatives?
If not, you really need to catch up with the world!
 
What I can't tell is how much the empty shelves are caused by panic buyers, vs the very long tail of everyone else buying a bit more than usual.
 
Ben Halton said:
Today relief came in the shape of a delivery from Seckford
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Ben,

I see you have a case of Rancia there, I’ve been having a bit of a Chianti Classico rediscovery recently and I have been buying up 2016’s.

I’ve never tried a Rancia before but I see the 2016 is reviewed well, would you recommend this wine?

Thanks,
Lee
 
GuyD'nis said:
What I can't tell is how much the empty shelves are caused by panic buyers, vs the very long tail of everyone else buying a bit more than usual.
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What's the difference? It's just an irregular verb - as in "I'm taking sensible precautions, you're buying a bit more than usual, he's stockpiling, they're panic buying"
 
I'm firmly in the 'buying a bit more than normal' category, having not used the car once to go shopping, though we do have a semi-accidental surfeit of toilet rolls. We buy a huge pack of Costco's own every few months and two weeks ago I ordered online as I couldn't make it into the store, only to discover the minimum order was 2 mega-packs. Totally fortuitous, but having 20 x 4-packs is a comforting, almost quilted, 4-ply feeling.

I see some bastards are selling at £120 on ebay, whereas they were bought at £18.99.
 
My wife went to the local Boots pharmacy this morning to pick up a repeat prescription. It is a small store and they were only letting in two at a time. She queued for an hour and then had to leave as her car parking was about to expire. So back again tomorrow to try and get the prescription.
 
Once again Lewisham market today was great - lots of super fresh vegetables at very good prices. Great range - no queuing. All very civilised. Even picked up some lovely looking yams - never cooked them before. Once again we are stock full of beautiful, fresh veg for £1 a bag.....

Yet across the road was a 150m queue for Iceland.

I fear a lot of people have forgotten even the most basic of food preparation.

But, to mirror comments above - I've not seen anyone doing crazy crap....
 
I'm sure like lots of other people, when doing some mundane chore - making a cup of tea or opening a '61 Latour - my mind wanders into what's the future going to be like? Without wishing for one moment to deny the seriousness of the current situation, and of course sympathising and feeling great pain for those who will lose loved ones, you do have to remind yourself that this is not a permanent new reality and there is a degree of hysteria around at the moment.

In 18 months at worst, odds are that there will be an effective vaccine. Hopefully too, lessons will have been learned from all of this that will make a re-occurence less likely, and we can have at least another century before an epidemic of this magnitude occurs (thinking back to Spanish flu). If we learn the lessons well enough, maybe longer.

It is hard to image normality right now. It's hard to plan, it's hard to think about 'doing stuff', but we do surely need to keep giving ourselves a gentle slap on the face to wake us out of the nightmare and remember that the vast, vast majority of people will get through this, and it will end.
 
Alex Lake said:
Any idea when paracetamol might become available again?
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Alex, my local Superdrug has loads of it yesterday and today. 2 packs limit, so I now have 4 which I think is a sufficient stash. A couple of packs of Lem-Sips too, which of course are paracetamol. Was in around 11:30 yesterday and around 10am this morning.
 
It seems that the locals don't like celeriac, fennel, aubergines or courgettes around here as that was pretty much the sum total of available vegetables at 12.30 today. I'm all for experimenting with different flavours and textures but I don't really like the sound of green aniseed ratatouille.

happily they did have the much more important staples of venison, spuds and cheese. Curious really, virtually all the other meat sold out but about 20 rolled venison haunch joints, all 25% off so feed the family for a tenner with some of the leanest most low cholesterol most eco-friendly meat there is (not to mention damned tasty). Simply roasted with a couple of sprigs of rosemary, some crushed garlic, a little salt, some olive oil and a bit of butter if you're asking.

When I got to the checkout I commented to the lady serving that it seemed like a relatively normal day - she said that it had been chaos for hours and only just calmed down. When I said thank you for putting up with it all to her she nearly burst into tears.
 
I know Tom, I must confess as I was driving to the warehouse earlier to meet a client I was chatting on the hands-free to my sister who has been told to cease and desist as my niece had a slight fever and a cough and we were talking about how to make sure our parents didn't do the wrong thing and leave the house (mum is certainly in the at risk category) I found myself looking out at a relatively sunny almost spring-like day and thinking where are all the zombies of the apocalypse? The answer of course is in the queue for Costco bog roll...
 
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