I went to the village medical centre last week for a routine blood pressure check. The waiting room was empty apart from one older woman, which is unusual. All the magazines that are usually stacked on a central table had disappeared, as had the box of kids' toys that's usually available. The radio that's usually playing was off. When you arrive, a notice at the reception point usually asks you to ring a bell for attention that's just inside the glass hatch. This time, the hatch was closed and a notice asked you to knock on the window. At no point when I was talking to the receptionist was the window opened. My consultation went much as usual, with some additional chit-chat about the coronavirus. They'd done a deep clean of all areas and were battening down the hatches. When I went back to reception to schedule my next appointment, the receptionist signed off wryly with "I think it''ll get worse before it gets better."
The village pharmacy was much as normal. A guy who signed for his prescription before me did half-jokingly point out that there was a shared pen with no apparent signs of precautionary sanitizing.
I went to do our weekly shop yesterday. My first stop was Aldi in the Vale of Leven, where I normally just get some lines we can't get elsewhere and stock up on beer (my favourite is usually a lot cheaper there than anywhere else). A sign at the door said that all shoppers were restricted to two items of any one line, to try to make sure everyone could get some. To my relief, for beer this was extended to four of any one type. There was no frenzy, and though I didn't check out what was available in terms of fresh veg etc. (I would have if I'd known what was to come), I didn't notice any empty shelves.
Next stop was Morrisons in Dumbarton. Again, it wasn't particularly busy, though there were quite a few folks wandering round with trollies looking a bit bewildered. There hasn't been any dispenser hand soap for a couple of weeks now. The veg section had been practically stripped bare, with just some salads and stray more slightly exotic veg left, but I got the last bag of new potatoes and the last two rather scrawny lemons. Staples like leeks and carrots were gone. There wasn't a scrap of toilet paper left, and just a few rolls of a pricey premium heavy-duty kitchen towel. There were no canned tomatoes, and there was no pasta left in the store, fresh or dried. I got the last couple of cans of evaporated milk (we usually use it in coffee, but others no doubt look on it as a long-term storage item). There was plenty of Morrisons own-bake bread.
I stopped in the Helensburgh Co-op on the way home, hoping to top up on what I'd been unable to get earlier. Again, the veg section was more or less stripped bare. I managed to pick up some lemons, of which they had plenty, and a couple of baking potatoes, which were among the two or three packs left. Again, there were no canned tomatoes nor pasta. There was no toilet roll nor kitchen towel left, and the bread shelves were empty. As with Aldi and Morrisons, there was plenty of booze. Expect that to change if there are pub closures.
The last time I've seen anything like this was during and in the aftermath of The Beast from the East storm a few years ago, when supply lines were cut after heavy, prolonged snowfall. I hope the shelves will be replenished after the week's deliveries, and that those who've felt the need to stock up will then lay back a bit and leave some for those of us who've tried not to over-react. Failing that, the other supermarkets should follow Aldi's lead and restrict the number of particular items you can buy at once.
= new reply since forum marked as read
