Hygiene at supermarkets during Coronavirus epidemic

[Andy Hayter]

34 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Having listened to what the PM said, my biggest question is: what led to all the reported near-certainty that garden centres would be allowed to reopen?

 

I always thought it was an odd suggestion, because all the nominal garden centres near here are in fact “indoor shopping arcades with a bit outside that sells plants”, and are most popular with the demographic at greatest risk from Covid. Also, opening only garden centres places would cause them to become magnets for the bored, Who would then overcrowd them.

 

Maybe they will reopen, and he simply didn’t mention it; maybe the idea was touted and it became apparent that it was a bad one.

Surely the messages that businesses should reopen if it is safe to do so applied to Garden Centres where they can meet the safety distancing requirement.

 

My local one here in France was closed for 4 weeks, then opened 2 mornings per week - maximum 5 customers inside at a time and now extended to 5 mornings per week with the same restriction.  

 

the only issues being -

what constitutes a customer?  If it is a couple do they count as one or two?  One it seems in the view of the average customer.

how do you know if there are 5 customers already inside?  All right later in the day it is one in one out.  When I went there were the best part of a dozen customers inside.

and finally the quality of the customers inside the store.  As I was pushing my cart full of essential composts towards the entrance, I was confronted by another customer who decided to cough (at around 3m distance) in my direction and then guiltily put her face into her elbow joint.  Too late misses!

 

The garden centre nonsense was invented by the media - along with much confusion that they created and then accused the government of being responsible for.

[Nearholmer]

2 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

Surely the messages that businesses should reopen if it is safe to do so applied to Garden Centres where they can meet the safety distancing requirement.

 

 

But, I don't think he said that public facing businesses could reopen. What he said was:

 

 “We now need to stress that anyone who can’t work from home, for instance those in construction or manufacturing, should be actively encouraged to go to work.”

 

Which isn't the same thing.

 

In each country in the UK there is a prescribed list of which public facing businesses can be open, and it doesn't include garden centres. Wales has announced a change to include them from tomorrow, Scotland not, and England? ......... That is the question.

 

Its not that I'm about to rush out and buy a pelargonium the moment they do, I'm simply intereseted in why every news channel said they would be allowed to, and it wasn't mentioned. Maybe listing different rules for different parts of the UK would sound silly or confusing.

[Andy Hayter]

But surely the selling of the manufacture (aka growing) of plants is covered.

 

 

I don't think we should get into a big argument over this.  The rules  were never going to be black and white even when they were simply stay at home.  Now it will be a little more open to interpretation.

 

I have been waiting to be confronted by a gendarme to question my essential purchases.  What is essential to one person will be a wasteful luxury to another.  

 

[stewartingram]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

Having listened to what the PM said, my biggest question is: what led to all the reported near-certainty that garden centres would be allowed to reopen?

 

 

Answer to that? The media and all its speculation. That is why I don't watch the news, nor read newspapers, and certainly ignore facebook etc!

 

Stewart

[Nearholmer]

Andy

 

As I say, in the UK, there is a prescribed list of which public facing businesses can and cannot open, in black and white here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-businesses-and-premises-to-close/further-businesses-and-premises-to-close-guidance (this is the guidance, but it is backed by a "statutory instrument").

 

Unless it changes, and it may, but simply not have been mentioned by the PM, garden centres aren't on the list of businesses that can open in England. If you were to open a garden centre today (bit late for buying plants, I admit), you would be ordered to shut it, and probably be fined.

 

Kevin

 

 

[zarniwhoop]

13 hours ago, Butler Henderson said:

To go back to the threads title the actual approach by supermarkets locally remains from the excellent to the downright appalling.

NB Tesco absent from the above as their is no big Tesco locally.

I variously go to Sainsburys, Tesco, and Waitrose (large versions of the first two, the waitrose is probably one of their smaller stores and I only go there irregularly for a few things I can't get in the other two).

 

If antibacterial wipes are any use, then Tesco are on the ball - they offer to spray your hands and will wipe the handle of the trolley. I'm not so sure that the Waitrose I use had any sprays (can't remember, as I say explain I had to get a trolley ASAP before getting near the head of the queue so that I could lean on it), and Sainsburys had none.

 

But may be I should have said "IFF antibacterial wipes are any use" (a mathematical / computing term - if and only if).

 

However, I have limited mobility (walk with two sticks, would not be able to get up if I fell) and I walk much better, and less slowly, when pushing a trolley [ before the pedants jump in - one stick in trolley, put that hand on the handle and use the other stick ] (except that slopes are still a problem), so I get a trolley as soon as I can. What I noticed on my weekly shop on Saturday was that at both Tesco and Sainsburys I now have to walk much further to get into the shop.

 

OK, Sainsburys did that last week, Tesco only did half of the extra distance last week, but yesterday the route *out* of Sainsburys was longer (barriers - I'd parked nearer where the new entrance is, so a longer route back).

[zarniwhoop]

3 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Having listened to what the PM said, my biggest question is: what led to all the reported near-certainty that garden centres would be allowed to reopen?

Politicians or Special Advisors who briefed friendly newspapers with what both they and the newspapers wanted to hear.

[Mike Bellamy]

 

BBC say that a 50 page guidance document will be published later today - hopefully that will give more answers . . . . . ?

.

[caradoc]

13 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Having listened to what the PM said, my biggest question is: what led to all the reported near-certainty that garden centres would be allowed to reopen?

 

I always thought it was an odd suggestion, because all the nominal garden centres near here are in fact “indoor shopping arcades with a bit outside that sells plants”, and are most popular with the demographic at greatest risk from Covid. Also, opening only garden centres places would cause them to become magnets for the bored, Who would then overcrowd them.

 

Maybe they will reopen, and he simply didn’t mention it; maybe the idea was touted and it became apparent that it was a bad one.

 

Personally I don't see why garden centres should not be allowed to re-open as long as they adopt the same procedures as supermarkets, eg my local Sainsburys; All trolley handles are cleaned before use, the number of customers in the store at any one time is strictly controlled, card only payment at staffed tills, which now have perspex screens, etc. Apart from anything else, my supply of bird seed comes from a garden centre and thanks to the greedy sparrows stocks are starting to run low !

 

[Edwardian]

I thought it might help if I drew up a flow chart to take us through last night's announcement about how we can start going back to work today.

 

[Reorte]

It's back to the office for me next week, possibly this week (need to get the car looked at first, it was making some unpleasant noises when I went shopping at the weekend).

[jcm@gwr]

27 minutes ago, Reorte said:

It's back to the office for me next week, possibly this week (need to get the car looked at first, it was making some unpleasant noises when I went shopping at the weekend).

 

What sort of 'unpleasant noises'?

Have you done a basic under bonnet levels check?

[Reorte]

4 minutes ago, jcm@gwr said:

 

What sort of 'unpleasant noises'?

Have you done a basic under bonnet levels check?

Grinding from the wheels. I assumed at first it was just the brakes rusting up a bit but it didn't clear after going up and down the local dual carriageway a couple of times, braking reasonably hard at the end (on the way to the shops, although admittedly that was a bit of extra diversion). It'll be pretty embarrassing if it turns out to just be that after all, and I simply hadn't done enough to clean them up. Still, it's also due for service and MoT and although MoTs are being postponed I may as well get it done if it's in the garage anyway.

Edited May 11, 2020 by Reorte

[jcm@gwr]

29 minutes ago, Reorte said:

Grinding from the wheels. I assumed at first it was just the brakes rusting up a bit but it didn't clear after going up and down the local dual carriageway a couple of times, braking reasonably hard at the end (on the way to the shops, although admittedly that was a bit of extra diversion). It'll be pretty embarrassing if it turns out to just be that after all, and I simply hadn't done enough to clean them up. Still, it's also due for service and MoT and although MoTs are being postponed I may as well get it done if it's in the garage anyway.

 

If it hasn't been driven much in the past few weeks, it could well be just a build up of rust.

But if it's due a service, and you can get it in to a garage you trust, then let them sort it out.

[Reorte]

12 minutes ago, jcm@gwr said:

 

If it hasn't been driven much in the past few weeks, it could well be just a build up of rust.

But if it's due a service, and you can get it in to a garage you trust, then let them sort it out.

 

A blast up and down the dual carriageway should've cleared the rust I'd have thought. I've had to leave a car for a couple of weeks a few times in the past and the buildup has usually shifted pretty quickly. This is fairly constant (i.e. not just when braking).

[jcm@gwr]

20 minutes ago, Reorte said:

 

A blast up and down the dual carriageway should've cleared the rust I'd have thought. I've had to leave a car for a couple of weeks a few times in the past and the buildup has usually shifted pretty quickly. This is fairly constant (i.e. not just when braking).

 

If it definitely road speed (wheel) related, not engine speed (or g/box speed) related,

then it could be a wheel bearing, unfortunately.

Does the sound change when cornering?

[Reorte]

28 minutes ago, jcm@gwr said:

 

If it definitely road speed (wheel) related, not engine speed (or g/box speed) related,

then it could be a wheel bearing, unfortunately.

Does the sound change when cornering?

I've thought maybe very slightly. Definitely road and not engine speed related. Anyway it's off to the garage this evening. Bearing was a thought that crossed my mind, which is why I want it checked out before having to use it for more than ten minutes a fortnight (normally I'd walk to Tesco but not when I'm buying enough for a week or two).

[jcm@gwr]

Good luck!

[Nick C]

1 hour ago, Reorte said:

I've thought maybe very slightly. Definitely road and not engine speed related. Anyway it's off to the garage this evening. Bearing was a thought that crossed my mind, which is why I want it checked out before having to use it for more than ten minutes a fortnight (normally I'd walk to Tesco but not when I'm buying enough for a week or two).

Sounds like a wheel bearing to me too

 

Fairly easy to check - jack up the appropriate corner of the car (if you can tell which corner it's coming from, might have to try all four, but it'll prorbably be one of the fronts), and spin the wheel by hand. If it's bad enough to hear a constant noise, you might well be able to feel it as well as hear it...

[monkeysarefun]

14 hours ago, Mike Bellamy said:

 

BBC say that a 50 page guidance document will be published later today - hopefully that will give more answers . . . . . ?

.

 

 

50  pages!?!  This is our NSW government public guidance  document!

 

You must stay at home, unless you are going to:

• work (where you can’t work remotely)
• school or an educational institution
• shop for food or other goods and services
• exercise.
• Visit another household, provided the visitors include up to 2 adults and their dependant children
• avoid injury or illness or escape a risk of harm
• deal with emergencies or on compassionate grounds
• access childcare
• provide care or assistance (including personal care) to a vulnerable person or to provide emergency assistance
• attend a wedding (limited to a total of 5 people) or funeral (limited to a total of 10 people, excluding the person/s necessary to conduct the funeral e.g. funeral director)
• inspect a potential new place of residence or business, a potential investment property, a display home or other display premises, or attend an auction of real property
• move to a new place of residence, or between your different places of residence (a holiday is not an acceptable reason)
• donate blood
• undertake legal obligations
• access social services, employment services, services provided to victims (including as victims of crime), domestic violence services, and mental health services
• continue existing arrangements for access to, and contact between, parents and children for children who do not live in the same household as their parents or one of their parents
• if you are a priest, minister of religion or member of a religious order, go to a place of worship or to provide pastoral care.

 

 

 

[Reorte]

Hardly supermarket-related, but the car failed its MoT with a broken spring. You'd have thought I should've noticed that, a bit worrying that I didn't, I thought it might've been clunking a little more over the bumps up to the road but that's all - just as well I had it done whilst it was in (and they've not worked out the noise yet) despite the extension.

[jcm@gwr]

I'm guessing the broken spring was a front, coil-over unit (MacPherson strut),

easy to not notice as they normally only lose the bottom coil, and that doesn't

tend to affect the feel of the vehicle too much (unless you're pushing it!)

 

[Ohmisterporter]

Getting back to the OP, we went to Tesco this afternoon to pick up our Click and Collect order. Simple procedure; select items and pay online, go to pick up point at nominated time and an employee loads up the car, a hatchback. Only problem was he wore neither mask nor gloves and whilst loading sang a tuneless ditty to himself. Breathing on our bags of goodies whilst doing so. We mentioned this to our schoolteacher daughter and she informed us that schools are banned from having singing because germs can be projected five metres by singing. If he had only worn a mask or not sang there would have been no problem. We always wash and antibax the goods when we get home but I imagine that many others wouldn't. 

[JSpencer]

We've had DIY stores fully open this week. Queing up in a car to get some of the big materials for an hour is a new theme.

 

One thing that made me smile was getting an e-mail from the local council telling me that parking meters had reopened!

[Butler Henderson]

Got a surprise at Sainbsurys this week, for the first time they said the trolleys had been cleaned  and at the self serve & hand scanner checkouts they had erected plastic screens to the sides and  behind where necessary. Morrisons and Asda are both still lacking with the DIY cleaning arrangements in place, so using my own antibac cloth. Morrisons also still have not resolved the in store crossover conflict between arriving and departing customers while Asda have marked out bi directional working routes along an entrance corridor from the car park that seems to be only just over 2m wide. As their is a separate pedestrian access from the direction of town they could quite easily come up with a circular arrangement that avoids any conflicts. In M&S yesterday after I had used a self service till the scanning area was disinfected but not the touch screen