Shopping rant.

Let me just say I have no problem at all with the new rules regarding the wearing of masks – none at all.

Like others, I have been known to wonder why HMG did not impose the rule earlier, but as masks could not be had for love nor money at the outset, I have not voiced that thought. As soon as masks became more widely available we bought some and I have now worn a mask in shops for several weeks already.

Click image for link

Nevertheless, what is it about the new requirement to wear masks that makes everyone think that they can shop as a family group again?

I’ve just been to Aldi and although the tills were quiet (unnervingly quiet), the store was packed with family groups hogging the aisles and crowding around their trollies to chat with other families they chanced to meet (blocking the aisle EVEN more). And don’t start me on the non-evident social distancing.

Generic image of shoppers – not local Aldi

We have had four glorious months where only one person per trolley was allowed in the store (the rule was much the same in other stores too).  So, each household had a nominated shopper who, if deliveries from larger stores could not be arranged, would take their list and strategically shop for JUST what they needed. The nominated shopper would clinically plan their route around the store (using the one-way system), would precisely locate what it was they needed to buy and be in and out of the store almost as quickly as the tills allowed. It was absolute bliss.

Now, although there is a traffic-light system to enter our Aldi, there is no ‘number-of-people’ per trolley counter. It makes shopping by the (still) nominated shopper (me) immensely frustrating.

[I do understand that some people need help with their shopping. I have no problem with that, but when ‘hubby’ comes along to JUST push the trolley and the tribe of kids, of all ages join in the fun, it is annoying. Rant over]

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Covid-19 … Fuck you!

Sharon and I have coped fairly well with the lockdown. [Quite a bit of this post was seen in an earlier post]

I think that the U.K. lockdown was enforced at least a week to ten days late, but never mind, WE have both managed. Yet, many thousands of others haven’t.

As I write this, the numbers of people catching the virus (at least across Europe) are decreasing, as is the number of people dying from Covid-19. Therefore, the government are allowing pubs to open from this weekend and social-distances to be reduced. People are also going back to work, which is a good thing, if it is safe to do so. Sadly, many others will find that their jobs no longer exist post-furlough, which is not a good thing.

This virus is affecting many people in many ways.

What we still do not know though, is how many preventable deaths and serious illnesses have been hastened by the scarcity of medical interventions brought about by the pandemic, or the silent but deadly increase of serious mental health issues which lockdown has been (and is still being) allowed to breed.

The point in question?  My dad. He’s 93 years old later this year and has completely failed to comprehend the enormity of the situation. Bear in mind that my mum, his wife, has been in a care home (she has Alzheimer’s – see) for over two years and that until lockdown, he had never missed visiting her at least twice a week.

On March 16^th, I phoned dad to tell him that mum’s Care Home had decided to stop allowing visitors (incidentally – this early action meant that the Care Home managed to keep a clean Covid-19 sheet throughout) and that he therefore could no longer visit mum. He thought it was only for a week (I read his diary today) but I did tell him that it was for at least a week and possibly more (build him up, let him down gently).

Unlike me, dad is an avid news-watcher and Boris-lover, so I’d expected him to understand more of the nuances of lockdown (self-isolation, shielding etc.) than he actually did.

Because Sharon needed to be involved in the activities surrounding the, then imminent, birth of Betony’s second son in April, we were being especially isolated and I’d told dad that unless he stopped using public transport, I couldn’t see him.  Now, that in itself was a problem, because he is half-deaf.  He has had hearing difficulties all of my life but his hearing aids have disguised this disability quite well.  However, as he has aged, he has become more prone to ‘making do’.  He’s fine if he can see you, but because he ‘repairs’ his own hearing aids (Blue-Tac, solder, elastic bands etc.) it has become much harder to communicate with him via telephone.  As a result, we have been unable to make him fully understand the Covid-19 dangers and he has become more and more depressed.

All of his hospital appointments (one for hearing, which they are now trying to arrange ‘over the telephone’!!!) have been cancelled over the months of lockdown. He must have felt especially abandoned.  Now, after at least one attempt at taking his own life, he has just been discharged from hospital following a stay (for assessment) of over three weeks. He is beginning life in the same care home as my mum.

I’m told that he’s not coping well.

So, that’s another life blighted by this fucking virus.

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