Panic buying

[spamcan61]

8 minutes ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

On a rather different point, I am confused by what are regarded as essential items. Having spoken to a friend in Staffordshire who is using C&C to get garden and DIY products, I tried to do the same with the local Wickes. I can order Cuprinol garden paints for delivery only (at a cost) but can C&C a club hammer (also needed for a garden project).  So a hammer is an essential item , paint isn't. No wonder domestic abuse is on the rise.

 

Thankfully there is no official definition of what constitutes an 'essential' item so every company can make up its own mind what it wants to sell and what not to sell, after all there's no obligation to only sell 'essential' items anyway. 

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

Yes me too, because of the Asthma.

Mine was due to Ulcerative Colitis, I was on regular steroids so had a compromised immune system.

The Asthma is a recent thing, it seems to have replaced hay fever which I suffered badly with to the point of being short of breath at times but  haven't had a problem for several years.

[boxbrownie]

51 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

The wife and I have been offered (and accepted) flu jabs from our GP from well before age 60, despite being 'completely invulnerable'. But we were registered as carers for multiple elderly relatives, all very vulnerable in way or another, and it was for their protection. 

Well aware of that but our flu jab is offered to us (well before we were sixty as well) because we have identifiable conditions which include us in the vulnerable categories not because we are carers for my 92 year old Mum.

 

Also aware that just having the flu jab requirement is not a criteria for being on the priority lists at the moment even though our Doctor included it in the list in early letters to patients.

 

Our Son is also very puzzled and worried that we have not been identified as yet despite doing everything asked of us.

[spikey]

1 hour ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

Talk about having made a rod for their backs.

 

To my way of thinking this seems to be the underlying principle of most parenting nowadays

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

16 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

... we have not been identified as yet despite doing everything asked of us.

That you need to check with your GP, to find out what your status is. Between clerical errors, lost data, misdelivered post and like accidents, there will be people who don't get what they should (and those who are misclassed as vulnerable and get treated accordingly!).

[johnlambert]

1 hour ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

From the accustomed situation of total plenty: more than adequate income, an array of delivery services bringing in the supplies like clockwork, a large choice of eateries for lunch and dinner; now it is hard to obtain many products, and all has to be done at home. Their way of life was every child's dietary preferences catered for in detail, starting from 'their' breakfast goods preference. It's not like my 50s/60s upbringing where the food on the table was what you ate. Talk about having made a rod for their backs. (My suggestion that this is the moment to begin training in 'eat and be grateful for what there is' is apparently a non-starter.)

 

Although of a later generation ('70s/80s) it wasn't as though we were ever given much of a choice about dinner and although fussy/picky back then I've learnt to eat most stuff.  

 

As a result, although It's been disappointing not to always get what I wanted from the shops, I've always managed to find something to eat even if I have had to get creative. 

 

Of course I don't have children to worry about, so my life lacks that particular complication.

[MartinWales]

8 minutes ago, johnlambert said:

 

Although of a later generation ('70s/80s) it wasn't as though we were ever given much of a choice about dinner and although fussy/picky back then I've learnt to eat most stuff.  

 

As a result, although It's been disappointing not to always get what I wanted from the shops, I've always managed to find something to eat even if I have had to get creative. 

 

Of course I don't have children to worry about, so my life lacks that particular complication.

Well said that man!

[Gwiwer]

51 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Our Son is also very puzzled and worried that we have not been identified as yet despite doing everything asked of us.

 

SWMBO has at times been concerned and her mother (on her behalf) Definitely has.  We are both some years younger than the Government-advised threshold but SWMBO has had relatively recent surgery, takes certain medication and has a BMI above the "vulnerable" threshold.  I haven't had anything recently of concern though am grateful - as I always have been - to have been cleared of cancer a few years back.  

 

SWMBO fretted for days expecting "The Letter" but never received one.  We have settled into an understanding that her GP does not consider her vulnerable to the extent that the system would be triggered.  She is however taking care to avoid going into shops if I can do it for her but is otherwise taking as active a part in society as anyone currently can.  

[boxbrownie]

2 hours ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

That you need to check with your GP, to find out what your status is. Between clerical errors, lost data, misdelivered post and like accidents, there will be people who don't get what they should (and those who are misclassed as vulnerable and get treated accordingly!).

Done that, also have the letter from Consultants who my wife is undergoing cancer treatment presently.

 

Doctor doesn't know why we haven't heard and has just suggested we fill in the online form again!

[kevinlms]

5 hours ago, spamcan61 said:

Thankfully there is no official definition of what constitutes an 'essential' item so every company can make up its own mind what it wants to sell and what not to sell, after all there's no obligation to only sell 'essential' items anyway. 

The same applies in Australia. A business can sell any product on it's shelves (subject to any applicable limit), if it's not specifically banned from being open.

 

Victoria Police had to cancel some embarrassing fines, due to that ruling. One bloke was done for using a car wash at 2.00 am for example. Apparently, he was a delivery driver who was working 14 hour shifts (not driving for all that time) and that was the only time he could wash his car! The car wash is allowed to be open, so anyone is entitled to use it.

 

However as some have found out, being 200 km from home, with a packet of bog rolls in the boot, isn't a valid reason for 'shopping'! OK, I exaggerate a little, but I'm sure you get the point.

[rockershovel]

.... why use Ocado? Because that’s what my wife usually does. Why go to the Co-op? To find the things that don’t come in the delivery, for whatever reason. 

 

They had eggs when they weren’t available elsewhere. The Co-op, along with Budgens, met our requirements when no-one was interested in delivering. 

 

My good old wife is retired, has lately had knee surgery, after being effectively chairbound for several months, and has a long history of blood pressure and arthritis medication. If she’s classed as “vulnerable” it would be news to both of us, because the serendipitous character of her Ocado delivery status makes no reference to any such thing. 

 

I find the long-term effects of this elaborately engineered, incompetently implemented hysteria deeply worrying. My son and daughter have both concluded that their employers, both major British employers, don’t value them, and that the government doesn’t value their livelihoods, whereas other governments do. Both are accelerating their plans to look elsewhere, and as well-qualified professionals in their late twenties they are well placed to do so. This isn’t an uncommon story, and after all they have their father’s and their cousin’s examples to follow. 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by rockershovel

[Enterprisingwestern]

4 hours ago, rockershovel said:

 

My good old wife is retired

 

Why can't your other bad young working wife do the shopping for you?

 

Mike.

[rockershovel]

8 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Why can't your other bad young working wife do the shopping for you?

 

Mike.

 

Lazy, I suppose.....

[Re6/6]

My small Coop mini mart down the road have sufficient quantities of all my necessities. 

 

 

[Sir TophamHatt]

A bit disappointed.

 

Never used fabric conditioner before as I always thought:

 

1) it took away from the scent of the washing liquid
2) It eventually ruins clothes
3) Extra expense

 

However...
as part of a Bounty pack, I got vouchers for money off some.  Bought it for new baby clothes (although I sort of think using non-bio and fabric conditioner may discourage the skin from toughening up).  It's pretty nice.
Now I have to stop in the fabric conditioner aisle and smell them all to decide which I like the best and buy a load.

 

At least they're not that expensive.

[Enterprisingwestern]

33 minutes ago, Re6/6 said:

My small Coop mini mart down the road have sufficient quantities of all my necessities. 

 

 

 

As does ours, a delivery artic arrives every day, although pasta seems conspicuous by its absence.

Shopping takes a while though as we are restricted to 10 customers in the store at a time, but the convenience of it being less than 100 yards away on the high street outweighs such things.

 

Mike.

 

Mike.

[rockershovel]

9 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

As does ours, a delivery artic arrives every day, although pasta seems conspicuous by its absence.

Shopping takes a while though as we are restricted to 10 customers in the store at a time, but the convenience of it being less than 100 yards away on the high street outweighs such things.

 

Mike.

 

Mike.

 

Similar situation with ours. I’m not a great fan of Budgens, but they have also served us quite well amid the recent nonsense. 

 

Mind you, the new Co-op “local” near Crescent Bridge was a disappointment... but that’s an area which has ceased to be a family residential area, and my experience in Plymouth taught me that such places are best avoided anyway. 

 

Edited April 18, 2020 by rockershovel

[boxbrownie]

3 hours ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

A bit disappointed.

 

Never used fabric conditioner before as I always thought:

 

1) it took away from the scent of the washing liquid
2) It eventually ruins clothes
3) Extra expense

 

However...
as part of a Bounty pack, I got vouchers for money off some.  Bought it for new baby clothes (although I sort of think using non-bio and fabric conditioner may discourage the skin from toughening up).  It's pretty nice.
Now I have to stop in the fabric conditioner aisle and smell them all to decide which I like the best and buy a load.

 

At least they're not that expensive.

Pull yourself together man 

[Reorte]

3 hours ago, Re6/6 said:

My small Coop mini mart down the road have sufficient quantities of all my necessities.

 

I've not tried my local Co-op. Tesco is closer and the Co-op is very cramped at the best of times. And reputedly haunted.

[Gwiwer]

7 minutes ago, Reorte said:

 

 reputedly haunted.

 

By the ghost of pastas past?

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

17 hours ago, rockershovel said:

...I find the long-term effects of this elaborately engineered, incompetently implemented hysteria deeply worrying...

I would only be worried if the evidence suggested simply engineered, competently implemented hysteria.

 

Will the two significant destabilising events occurring over a few years lead to any changes in the medium term? I think they will, and we should be better off for it. Planning effort and policy change for superior national robustness might be a winning electoral platform for any party capable of quickly evolving and selling the concept.

[boxbrownie]

10 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

I would only be worried if the evidence suggested simply engineered, competently implemented hysteria.

 

Will the two significant destabilising events occurring over a few years lead to any changes in the medium term? I think they will, and we should be better off for it. Planning effort and policy change for superior national robustness might be a winning electoral platform for any party capable of quickly evolving and selling the concept.

We will have to wait and see if Boris saw the light when he was...er.....seeing the ever closing light during his recent “furlough”.......

[polybear]

6 hours ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

A bit disappointed.

 

Never used fabric conditioner before as I always thought:

 

1) it took away from the scent of the washing liquid
2) It eventually ruins clothes
3) Extra expense

 

However...
as part of a Bounty pack, I got vouchers for money off some.  Bought it for new baby clothes (although I sort of think using non-bio and fabric conditioner may discourage the skin from toughening up).  It's pretty nice.
Now I have to stop in the fabric conditioner aisle and smell them all to decide which I like the best and buy a load.

 

At least they're not that expensive.

 

Jeez.  Next you'll be telling us you've taken up Knitting.

[57xx]

On 18/04/2020 at 09:10, Sir TophamHatt said:

A bit disappointed.

 

Never used fabric conditioner before as I always thought:

 

1) it took away from the scent of the washing liquid
2) It eventually ruins clothes
3) Extra expense

 

However...
as part of a Bounty pack, I got vouchers for money off some.  Bought it for new baby clothes (although I sort of think using non-bio and fabric conditioner may discourage the skin from toughening up).  It's pretty nice.
Now I have to stop in the fabric conditioner aisle and smell them all to decide which I like the best and buy a load.

 

At least they're not that expensive.

 

I never use it as it gives me eczema (as does biological washing powder/liquid). There is a simple, much cheaper alternative - white vinegar! One of it many uses around the home. I get mine in gallon containers from the Chinese supermarket.

[Hobby]

5 hours ago, 57xx said:

I never use it as it gives me eczema (as does biological washing powder/liquid). 

 

Ditto! Though it doesn't give me Excema, I already have it, it just makes it far worse!