Still life with yogurt

The big supermarket delivery which I ordered three weeks ago arrived this morning. In fact I have been looking forward to it for days – I am getting excited about quite simple things now.

When the doorbell rang I said a heartfelt thank you to the driver for doing such an important task. He told me that he really appreciates it when customers thank him; some of them don’t and are quite rude. Unbelievable!

I had been checking the order during the week before, noting items that were out of stock and adding new items. But when the final confirmation came through this morning I discovered that almost all of the meat was unavailable. At that very moment my neighbour texted to ask if she could get anything from the shops, so I mentioned the meat. She kindly picked up some sliced ham for me, but said that again fresh meat was in short supply.

It’s very strange learning about so much of what is happening locally, like food shortages, third hand. I spotted a Facebook post that referred to the cost of petrol – around £1 a litre!!

I’ve been told that our local flower shop is now selling fruit and vegetables (by the pound it seems – I’m sure that Trading Standards Officers will turn a blind eye). When we first moved to the area nearly 50 years ago the florist’s father ran a greengrocers shop in the parade. The son trained as a florist and then started selling flowers from the back of the shop, and then when his father retired he transformed the place into a beautiful flower shop. So now he has come back full circle and the shop is once again selling fruit and veg.

Going back to today’s delivery, the one thing that was missing was an Easter egg. I had ordered one so we could celebrate Easter in the traditional way, and it looks as though I have been charged for one, but it hasn’t arrived. However the last thing I am going to do is to complain or ask for my money back – it is a totally trivial matter in the context of getting essential supplies to everyone stuck at home. At least we have some hot cross buns to enjoy.

My supermarket doesn’t have a delivery slot available between now and the end of June, so we are going to have to be a bit creative. But the driver said that they are still recruiting hundreds of drivers, so hopefully it will get better. I reckon we could manage for at least four weeks with what we’ve got, provided we go carefully with the loo rolls.

Please note

We have been in full self-isolation since 16th March to protect my husband whose immune system is compromised.

If you are in self-isolation then join the Lib Dems in self-isolation Facebook group.

You can find my previous Isolation diaries here.

* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.