Panic buying

[jjb1970]

1 hour ago, kevinlms said:

Thread now seems to have gone away from panic buying to supermarket choice or even what vehicles are in the car park.

 

Does that mean that shortages are almost over in the UK?

 

I can only speak for the shops I use but I'd estimate it took them about ten days to recover from the initial burst of panic buying to have enough to get what we needed if not too fussy about brand and having ten choices for basically the same product. For a few weeks now it's been pretty much normal apart from social distancing in the shops. From time to time we find something on our list is out of stock but it's not a big deal and we haven't found any hardship getting what we want never mind what we need.

[jjb1970]

Given the unanticipated panic frenzy, the disruption to supply chains, worries about staff protection, the need to social distance and all the other challenges they've faced I honestly think the supermarkets have managed admirably and done a great job.

[woodenhead]

Rice and pasta is coming back to normal levels at our local supermarkets, flour is still in short supply.

 

One thing I've altered since the lockdown, I now pay 45p per kilo on white rice down from 100p (no pound sign, us keyboard, dont ask).

[Joseph_Pestell]

Eggs also scarce. But I guess that goes with the flour. Bake-Off has much to answer for.

[Rivercider]

Shortages of things I have been personally looking for  in the store where I work this week:

tomato puree (as above), some types of pasta, eggs (half dozen varieties particularly), and olive oil.

 

Overall though the store is pretty well stocked, there are occasional queues to enter, and a queue for checkouts which moves along quite swiftly. Most staff and customers have settled into the new routine, and the atmosphere is pretty relaxed.

 

cheers  

[ejstubbs]

4 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

Eggs also scarce.

 

The egg section in my local Sainsbury's last week was stacked full of eggs.  All mixed size boxes, though, apart from a very few 6s and 12s of medium and XL.  No wonder they had loads in stock, no-one wants to get home to find they have six small eggs when they wanted six large. Especially so if you need them for baking, which usually requires a fair degree of exactitude in quantities.  (I once saw baking described as "like science for hungry people".)

[rockershovel]

21 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 

I can only speak for the shops I use but I'd estimate it took them about ten days to recover from the initial burst of panic buying to have enough to get what we needed if not too fussy about brand and having ten choices for basically the same product. For a few weeks now it's been pretty much normal apart from social distancing in the shops. From time to time we find something on our list is out of stock but it's not a big deal and we haven't found any hardship getting what we want never mind what we need.

 

Nearer three weeks, hereabouts. There are still obvious constrictions in supply lines and little, or no choice - including little or no ability to shop around for price, given the difficulty of getting a delivery slot, and the sheer time involved in actually shopping in person. 

[kevinlms]

16 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

Rice and pasta is coming back to normal levels at our local supermarkets, flour is still in short supply.

 

One thing I've altered since the lockdown, I now pay 45p per kilo on white rice down from 100p (no pound sign, us keyboard, dont ask).

 

The pound sign can be found - look under character map. In Australia we use a US keyboard too.

 

I have used the character map to post this

£

 

Also known as Alt + 0163, but your right, it's easier to write pounds!

[rockershovel]

3 minutes ago, ejstubbs said:

 

The egg section in my local Sainsbury's last week was stacked full of eggs.  All mixed size boxes, though, apart from a very few 6s and 12s of medium and XL.  No wonder they had loads in stock, no-one wants to get home to find they have six small eggs when they wanted six large. Especially so if you need them for baking, which usually requires a fair degree of exactitude in quantities.  (I once saw baking described as "like science for hungry people".)

 

I always look in the box first, before putting them in the trolley - apart from anything else, looking for broken ones. I will venture to surmise that there is no corrresponding reduction in price? 

[rockershovel]

3 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

 

The pound sign can be found - look under character map. In Australia we use a US keyboard too.

 

I have used the character map to post this

£

 

Also known as Alt + 0163, but your right, it's easier to write pounds!

 

Or write GBP 

[woodenhead]

6 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

 

The pound sign can be found - look under character map. In Australia we use a US keyboard too.

 

I have used the character map to post this

£

 

Also known as Alt + 0163, but your right, it's easier to write pounds!

I had got it memorised but then it slips and it is quicker to write pounds than re-do the search.  I rarely write in currency so it doesn't come up as a problem

[woodenhead]

4 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

 

Or write GBP 

Oh yeah, haha.

[kevinlms]

4 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

 

I always look in the box first, before putting them in the trolley - apart from anything else, looking for broken ones. I will venture to surmise that there is no corrresponding reduction in price? 

To check for broken eggs, I wriggle the 4 corner ones (the ones most likely to break), if any are stuck, then the bottom is cracked/stoved in. The tops can obviously easily be seen.

[woodenhead]

Since I am now doing two shops in one each week by also doing my in-laws I have taken to using the Sainsburys Smartshop, app.

 

It's great, scan and bag one shop as I walk round whilst putting my in-laws stuff in another trolley - initially I had to run two lots of shopping down the till which made me very popular with the other people queuing behind me but now I only have to run on shop through and just pay for the other after scanning a QR code at the till.

 

Brilliant, though I am now contributing to future job cuts at the supermarket no doubt

 

[spamcan61]

15 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

 

Or write GBP 

Agreed, i switch between keyboard layouts a fair bit, so even at home I tend to use ISO 4217 codes so GBP / USD / EUR etc.

 

https://www.xe.com/iso4217.php

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, Rivercider said:

Shortages of things I have been personally looking for  in the store where I work this week:

tomato puree (as above), some types of pasta, eggs (half dozen varieties particularly), and olive oil.

 

cheers  

What is it with Tomato Purée, we compiled our first priority order with ASDA last week and TP was OOS As was any close alternative........has everyone gone Italian?  We normally have four or five tubes of the stuff (we eat a lot of pasta) in store but have now run out completely........strained tinned tomatoes just isn’t the same on Pizza.

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, kevinlms said:

To check for broken eggs, I wriggle the 4 corner ones (the ones most likely to break), if any are stuck, then the bottom is cracked/stoved in. The tops can obviously easily be seen.

Just turn the box upside down to look for stained cardboard......and a quick look inside to check the tops, never got home yet with an unexpected scrambler.

[J. S. Bach]

2 hours ago, Rivercider said:

, and olive oil.

Find Popeye.

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

never got home yet with an unexpected scrambler.

 

Me neither.

 

 

Mike.

[Dave 46]

I went looking for bread flour in my local Morrisons today.  Only two bags of flour (of any sort), but it was bread flour.  They were 16kg bags, at £9 each.  I'm OK for a while.

 

Dave

 

[boxbrownie]

12 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Me neither.

 

 

Mike.

I just absolutely knew somebody would.......

[boxbrownie]

But apparently we are both well out of date now.....just look at Scrambling on the web........rock scrambling now, I guess using a motor bike is considered very “ungreen” nowadays......we are Dinosaurs matey, Dinosaurs 

[ejstubbs]

48 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

look at Scrambling on the web........rock scrambling now, I guess using a motor bike is considered very “ungreen” nowadays

 

The term "scrambling" has been used for lower-grade climbing for over a century.  Edward Whymper's Scrambles Amongst The Alps, which includes a description of the first successful ascent* of the Matterhorn, was published in 1871.  That pre-dates the first IC-powered motorcyle by 14 years.

 

These days it generally refers to any activity which requires the use of hands as well as feet i.e. more than just hillwalking, but not involving the use of removable or fixed protection such as nuts, cams, bolts and the like (for information: other than in a few specialist disciplines, the use of pitons went out with the ark).  In scrambling a rope is sometimes used for confidence or, using natural protection such as rock spikes or threads (holes in the rock),  to provide an additional modicum of safety on a more difficult pitch, but you don't usually tie on for the whole route.

 

So it's a term that's been in use for generations within that particular sphere of activity.

 

The term "scrambling" in the context of motorcycling, in the general sense of riding bikes through unpaved and/or challenging terrain, has rather fallen into desuetude.  Not because people don't do it, but because these days the activity is generally split in to two distinct disciplines: trials, which use routes across open country and which have been going on for over a century (such as the Scottish Six Days Trial), and motocross which is a more modern variant based on circuit racing on dirt tracks with manufactured 'obstacles' (these days usually just big jumps).  The kind of thing you used to see on Grandstand in the 1960s described as "scrambling" was really a precursor of modern motocross: a development of trials riding in to an easy to understand, short format that suited a TV audience.  A bit like autopoint, if anyone remembers that, which used to feature unusual devices such as the twin-engined Mini Moke and the Haflinger; IIRC the latter used to win most of the time (there's a guy down the road from me who still has one).

 

* The descent didn't go quite so well, unfortunately...

Edited May 18, 2020 by ejstubbs

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Desuetude.

 

The winner of word of the week!

 

Mike.

[rockershovel]

8 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Desuetude.

 

The winner of word of the week!

 

Mike.

 

Perfectly cromulent!