Someone remarked yesterday that it is 5 years since Covid! I remember the days just before that. When we were living in Suffolk, Dh and I used to go to different farm shops for a change for our veggies.
It was a Friday and we had done our usual trip to Martlesham for a coffee and then our weekly shop at the big Tesco. We'd met someone from our reading group and stopped to chat, not about anything in particular, just every day stuff.. we noticed her trolley had several bottles of wine, we had yogurts +++ !! We talked about the book we had to read and then she asked, 'Had we heard about China?' She went on to say her brother in law who worked for an airline firm, had said there was trouble there and there might be shortages.. hence her wine, as her husband had told her to get some extras. We hadn't heard anything, so it didn't mean anything to us.. She went off to pay and I suggested to Dh we get some extra bottles of water and some dried foods, like pasta and rice. I'd read lots of Apocalyptic books and they always ran out of water and stored dried food stuffs. But we didn't really think anything of it.
We stopped at the Railway Coach farm shop on the way home, as they had advertised a mixed box of veg and some fruit for £10 instead of the usual £12. There were quite a few people there and we had to queue outside, because it was an actual railway carriage, so not big. We got our box and they had another one there with mis formed potatoes and carrots for half price and so I asked could we have that too.. so we came away with 2 boxes and 2 dozen eggs.
I phoned my son on the way home to ask did he want some, so we could stop on our way past his house to give him some. He just had the potatoes and some eggs.. He only cooked frozen veg he said, usually peas!!
Then of course on the Monday 23rd March, Lockdown started. I don't think we ever thought how it would effect us. We joined the thousands trying to get groceries delivered, wasn't that fun? Not! But we came through it and as experienced gardeners we were soon growing our own veg..and so ate well, but it all went on too long.
Have you thought back to those early days?
Chrisxx
8 comments:
It feels like a time to remember and you and I hae done just that!
I remember what it mess it was when I went to the grocery for the first time after I realized how serious it was. I walked in the store and there was simply nothing to buy. I had plenty at home but no fresh vegetables. I can tell you now I keep more than a Year's worth of canned and dried Goods at home. But I would still always miss having fresh vegetables and fruit.
My life changed completely as I was, am still, on the clinically extremely vulnerable list. Since then I've not been on public transport, to the cinema, theatre, museums, visited a stately home, socialised indoors, gone to church, stayed in a hotel or b and b, gone abroad on holiday... visited family in their houses, all on the unanimous advice of my various consultants. I'm not alone; last time I investigated there were around 1 million people still needing to be very cautious.
There's plenty left for me to enjoy; staying in self-catering holiday cottages, visiting gardens and open spaces, meeting people in outdoor areas... and there's always zoom!
I remember the toilet roll shortages haha and having to have gluten free rice pasta because the shelves were empty of regular pasta.
We had a surprise trip scheduled with our daughter and grandchildren. We planned to tell the kids the morning we were leaving. The night before we had to cancel it. We were so disappointed but the kids were unaffected. Luckily!
Those were terrible days. I was working as the assistant director of nursing in a skilled nursing facility. It was so very hard, so many people in isolation, all the gowning and masking before you could even go in and people missing their families who could only look in the windows. It was the hardest time of my career.
We caught covid BEFORE lockdown. We were able to eat the contents of our Brexit foodstore
I got put on the Extremely Vulnerable list after some delay, and I didn’t leave the house, scared even to walk the dog. Asda staff packed our frugal box of groceries and DH collected it from where it was left in the car park, at opening time when there were few people about.
The packer took such care, nothing bruised, good substitutions, and some unexpected treat added occasionally. It still makes me tearful. Someone really cared.
I remember the Christmas when we drove to DD’s, left the presents on the drive, and waved at our little grandsons through the window.
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