UK & Europe Lockdown Personal

We've had this in the Uk & Europe for 3 weeks now. I live above a shop in the town centre, there's usually deliveries coming and going all night to Greggs at 2.30am Superdrug at 4am and newspapers & milk at 6am. On a week-end its usually chaos with a bit of bedlam from all the pubs with queues around the block for taxis come 3am. Now all the taxis have gone as simply no customers so the 2 taxi firms there were have shut up shop. Buses are going around empty so have changed to Sunday Service to save money. Today they have sealed up the litter bins all around the town centre and covered them in plastic no clue why, but now the street cleaner who comes at 5am has stopped coming (I don't miss him he was a right noisy arse) . Gyms are closed and of course swimming pools and you're only allowed to go to the park singly for 30mins -1hr.

Cinemas closed and looks like 2 in my area won't be re-opening. Debenhams store have gone into liquidation. I think House of Fraser may follow. Carluccio Restaurant chain gone bust. My holiday to turkey that my chum has paid for for me & my daughter is now cancelled. My eldest daughter who lives in Greece is stuck here whilst her husband is still in Greece also on lockdown even though he's on a small island with no cases at all. She's been given a tentative flight date of 3rd may possibly which means she's been here since November. The hotel she works at during the summer is closed and there are no bookings on the whole of the island and people are panicking as they rely on the tourist season to get through winter. We are just waiting to see which airline goes bankrupt next.

Now we've been threatened with possible power cuts coz they can't bloody cope with us all being home. Strange how the National Grid doesn't have a problem when everyone's at work using machinery lighting power tools etc. With the amount of places closed down, the National Grid shouldn't have a sodding problem but its a good way of limiting internet access to that naughty fake news & misinformation

The silence is really strange and I'm finding I'm struggling to sleep. Its so quiet everywhere by me that when I go shopping I don't even have to press the pelican crossing button coz there's barely any traffic! Queueing up outside Sainsbury's 6ft apart, taking around 20-30mins to get inside, anti bac and kitchen roll to wipe down trolleys, still some bare shelves and barely any noises inside the supermarkets either. Only allowed 3 pieces of meat per person, 3 tins of beans and when they have any 3 packs of pasta same with toilet rolls soap and antibac or any cleaner. Most places aren't taking cash only card. My money goes into a building society which doesn't have debit cards so normally I take it out of the BS and put it into my bank around the corner but all banks are closed.

Lots of people in my small town in masks. I was stopped by a police lady yesterday and asked where I was going. Police are stopping cars with groups of people in them. You have to provide a damn good reason to be driving about. The guy who runs the shop downstairs from me was out yesterday collecting stock to try and sell on ebay. He's just got married and got a mortgage and is scared witless he's going to lose both his shop and home.
I've had 2 ebay sales in 12 days. I used to make a decent amount, enough for emergencies or special occasions, now zilch.

Can't get a doctors appointment until beginning of June (if then) IF you can get through on the telephone you have to be triaged first...but not by a nurse oh no by the damn receptionist because...well reasons!

There are no take aways open for that special treat when I don't feel like cooking, I miss my morning coffee from across the road and having a laugh with the ladies there. Nowhere to grab a sandwich for lunch. Miss meeting chums for coffee and a natter. Couldn't go out for my booked mother's day meal. My son & 2 daughters are now all out of work as the hotel they worked at has closed down. No more popping to the shop if I've forgotten something, say for a recipe. I'm allowed to go to the pet shop for my raw dog food only between 10am - 2pm.

It feels like how I imagine communist Russia would have felt and I'm sad and worrying about the slightest cough or sore throat or just not feeling right

I've become a hermit hypochondriac with a naughty nibble fetish

a reply to: PhyllidaDavenport

Hang in there.

If you want to see it positively... in 2-3 weeks this will all be over and we'll riot and loot and burn it all to the ground.
So there's something to look forward to

Oh aye the virus is gonna magically vanish just like that as Tommy Cooper would say lol

I was ok really until the kids lost their jobs and the daily trek and queuing at the supermarket and empty shelves...that just got to me big time, plus not knowing if we can make the rent from now on as well as all the other bills with next to nothing coming in

I've no energy to riot but if there's looting to be had I have my eye on the gun shop across the road and a rather nice crossbow for the zombies....always good to be prepared just in case all those apocalyptic films I've watched were secret messages of doom to come!
a reply to: Peeple

Some fish and chips sounds good. Maybe Ill make that for dinner.

Im enjoying the lack of cars on the road, and lots of time in my garden. I roast my own coffee beans and have at least 15 lbs of them stocked here, so Im actually having some fun. Its only 3pm and Im having a tomato beer

Fish & Chips? if only
I'd probably sell a kidney for them right now
a reply to: visitedbythem

a reply to: PhyllidaDavenport

I'm so sorry.

It sounds. . . dystopian.

a reply to: PhyllidaDavenport

I wish you would have listened to us preppers on ATS, and stocked up long before the lock down. I have Alaskan salmon, steelhead, cod, ahi, Mahi Mahi, jumbo scallops and shrimp. Oh yeah, a couple lobster tails and a crab too.

When I visit London, we had lamb with mint sauce. I loved it. I always keep a bunch of the tiny T-bones of lamb, and several mint sauce jars on hand.

a reply to: PhyllidaDavenport

That's the spirit! If you look at your trek and queuing as reconnessaince opportunities you'd add that extra air of adventure.
It's fun!

I’m in California.

We’ve been sheltered in place for a bit, although it sounds like the restrictions you have to deal with are more stringent.

Your descriptions remind me of the British TV dramas we get through BBC America, and of which I have grown quite fond.

It all sounds like Britain during its ration period following WWII.

I’d bet you elders would have some stories to tell of those days!

a reply to: Bhadhidar

When the Huns were dropping bombs, the pubs still stayed open.

hahaha you spud!
It is a worry though and I admit (coz this is the rant section) that the number of Americans flouting or undermining any kind of lockdown is ridiculous. It seems like utter pandemonium over there with no one State having the same laws or rules. Crazy stuff! and they think they've got it bad having to stay 3ft apart? Wait till there's bugger all in the shops not allowed out and neighbours stealing from neighbours. I reckon if there is to be looting it would be the US first that will light the fire for elsewhere...probably

I just want my normal back (with a crossbow) and hopefully an end to the cringeworthy worship of the People's Liberation Army of the NHS...unpopular opinion I know but we appear to be treating NHS workers, who get paid to do this job and know the risks like the US treat their troops. We all appreciate our NHS but jeez let's not get carried away here with all the fake lovey dovey

My dad is 83 and paralysed down his entire right side and we can't get to see him. My brother has been stopped and had to explain where he was going and at one point thought they were going to escort him! Brother had to leave dad's food in the hallway for him to put away which apparently took dad over an hour as he can barely move. We daren't go near him

I've an email box full of mail from banks credit card companies internet provider etc all saying "we're here to help" except they aren't and don't. Income is down to a quarter of what we had coming in but bills are up as British Gas have just put there prices up royal mail put there's up 1st April as usual and Tescos are cashing in on food with meat prices being stupid money, as if they thought no-one would notice. Fresh veg is expensive fruit appears to be a luxury now and only place for crunchy nut cornflakes is jack Fultons ffs!
phew! ok I'm ok..I'm breathing
a reply to: Peeple

Gonna have some bloody stories to tell about these days dunno about the war not quite that old!
Youngest daughter had a slight meltdown when she saw the state of the shops....it suddenly hit her. She said "I've no experience of anything like this it doesn't feel real"
Not many of us have love

a reply to: Bhadhidar

Meanwhile, people are dying.

Sorry about the inconveniences.

a reply to: PhyllidaDavenport

If I'd have even attempted to stock up like that I'd be completely skint!! There's no way on earth I could afford all that plus few of us here have the room for such things...our houses are small remember and so are our freezers. I only have 4 drawers in my freezer few bags of chips some veg and few pork chops and its full

I get a grand total of £78 a week that's it and a £10 disability top up so £88 pw for everything which is why the children losing their jobs is so serious
a reply to: visitedbythem

Do you mind? I'm having a rant here
thank you
a reply to: hombero

a reply to: PhyllidaDavenport

If it's going south it will be Italy first. But the US of course does everything bigger than everybody else.

I just tried to make you laugh, sorry that's all I can offer.

France has problems with neighbours suggesting health care workers to move out, I heard. That's the other extreme.

To me it's surreal, nothing has really changed, I avoid the shop where I'd have to wait in line and just watch in astonishment what the news are reporting, but I don't feel as a part of it.

Hope your dad stays fine. Best wishes to you.

France also has a mega problem with being unable to enforce any kind of lockdown in the migrant ghetto areas too. The police there have been attacked so many times they won't go in, so Frances health Minister has said not to bother enforcing the lockdown in those areas. That decision and the decisions of the migrants will end badly I think

Not sure if Italy will kick off, reckon it would be Iran or India or somewhere

We are bombarded daily with news & information and quite honestly is boggling my brain some seems sensible some seems outright ludicrous. We are destroying our economy and many businesses are not going to make it. I feel like I'm torn in two daily not knowing what's truth & what's fiction...ugh...it doesn't help being a critical thinker

A laugh is always good.....

a reply to: Peeple

a reply to: PhyllidaDavenport


Your report could have been my town.

Hit me when I had to queue in the sleet to get into Aldi's and there were no Rich Tea Biscuits!

Makes me wonder more than ever how 9 year olds in Africa cope seeing there parents raped, tortured, and left to bleed to death before being made to rape and torture thier sister as a test to see if they make the grade to join the gang that attacked them all in the first place instead of being shot to death.

I guess we will have to cope and survive, take every day as it comes, and not take too much for granted ever again.

At least we will be here to take the chances uncertainty gives us (probably).

Oh hell aye there's always someone worse off and as it happens I was brought up in Africa Zimbabwe so I know a bit about what you speak of

I think its just the incessant whining of people crying hoax fake and drink this bleach that's got to me, plus it hit me that we are sooo reliant on the supply of food and once that chain breaks down we're buggered
Wrecking a country is just so easy to do
And now I can't get tea bags...and that's pretty unforgivable...I am from Yorkshire after all !
a reply to: [post=25081632]Doxanoxa[/post

a reply to: PhyllidaDavenport
Isn't Her Majesty going to give the peasants WuFlu checks like Trump is giving out?

If not it's time to storm the castle!