Getting used to new habits for Coronavirus....

[Hornet3d]

Most of the shops here have limits on the number of items usually 2, 3 or occasionally 4 but in all cases I have seen that is across the board. The strange point is though that the checkouts have that limitation programed in but against the bar code so if the limit is two that is not the true limit, for example, rather than the restriction being just two milk you could by two full fat, two semi skimmed and two skimmed. The decision whether to allow this is then down to the checkout operator and that is where the inconsistencies creep in.

We also have the one hour reserved for the elderly, usually the first hour after opening but it according to many elderly who have shopped in that hour there are always some other than the elderly shopping. For some of the companies I know the instruction to staff is that it is not their job to enforce the rules that is so not to put their staff at risk from violent customers.

 

[Rae134]

Here you can only get 2 milk no matter what kind, for example I tried to get 3 lactose free milk, one full fat, one skim and the other one because I didn't think it would count because it was chocolate but nope had to put that one back.
The first hour of shopping here is for Elderly and at risk people, so those other people shopping could be the "at risk" people like people with auto-immune diseases etc who are not necessarily old.

 

[eclark1894]

From what I've been told by the employees, the store is still getting deliveries, but they're getting slammed when they do. It took them a couple of weeks but they finally put a limit of two on the number of any items you buy.

 

[pommerlis]

Our supermarkets are stocked normally again now, people had a panic-fart I guess.
The supermarket I usually go to has calculated on how many people inside per square meters would be comfortable for everyone to still move around keeping the social distance and that number of carts is outside. Are all the carts in use, then you will have to wait. They keep an eye on people keeping the required distance and clean the handlebars of the cart regularly.
More shops have this "the amount of carts/baskets is the amount of customers allowed" policy. Also there is this elderly shopping hour aswell. Not that they care much, one elderly couple just barged through the other day, having me slide behind a column and another woman diving into the tupperware. LOL

At the construction market I was yesterday they had the cart parked with an employee, he would hand you a cleaned cart wich you had to bring back after shopping and it would be cleaned again right there. Security was there to make sure people would behave.

It's the tone in the media that pisses me of alot, like armageddon has come. And what is this "don't touch your own face"-thing?! When you stay home and not shake hands that you regularly wash? You can't touch your own face? My first reaction was immediately "And someone elses face?" LOL

But I would really like to see the media show some empathy with those infected and people who fight for their lives right now. So far I've only heard about how much money this is going to cost and how awfully boring it is to stay home in a 10 bedroom house with 1 acre of land, netflix, game room, swimming pool and room for a pony. I see alot of advice coming by from people about "how to handle your kids", "exercise ate home" and "tips to kill the boredom"
In the meantime I hold my heart and pray for Italy, Spain and New-York.....omg, New York. That city holds a special place in my heart, never been there and don't ask me why but it does. Maybe it's the Dutch heritage, I don't know.
My heart goes out to all those who are so afraid and I pray that they will be able to control it. That people will heal from the virus, overcome it in good health. And my peeps here at the Hive.

I'm a blessed person. We have our caravan so we can keep ourselves busy without having to contact people. The two of us have a roomy appartment with a balcony, TV, cable, internet, books, arts- and crafts supplies and most important of all, each other. So many have nothing like the refugee camps in Italy, the homeless those who have to live from charity. I fear for them.

 

[AnimaGemini]

@Janet
Like I write before, my husband and me had it too. We had only light symptoms and in a normal case , i would take it as a seasonal cold/ flue and don't think about it. I think the real number of infected people is way more high than we know. But many, many with little symptoms don't inform any authorities to don't get completely locked up.
Like Miss B said, it depends how healthy and how good your immune system is.

We had 2 years ago a flue /Influenza. Over Christmas time. I was 2 days in bed with fewer, my husband 3 . After this we was up and recover very quick.
What I want to say with this, When you immune system is in a good condition, Influenza and Corona are not really a big risk. Sure some risk is always there, but it is not that high.

 

[AnimaGemini]

Most of the shops here have limits on the number of items usually 2, 3 or occasionally 4 but in all cases I have seen that is across the board. The strange point is though that the checkouts have that limitation programed in but against the bar code so if the limit is two that is not the true limit, for example, rather than the restriction being just two milk you could by two full fat, two semi skimmed and two skimmed. The decision whether to allow this is then down to the checkout operator and that is where the inconsistencies creep in.

We also have the one hour reserved for the elderly, usually the first hour after opening but it according to many elderly who have shopped in that hour there are always some other than the elderly shopping. For some of the companies I know the instruction to staff is that it is not their job to enforce the rules that is so not to put their staff at risk from violent customers.

I have to say here in the departement I live, Centre-Val de Loire , the people are not buying the stores empty. Just yesterday evening again I witnessed, that they have just the usual amount in their carts. The shelf's are almost like usual. Sure , there are some empty holes, like on eggs, but during the Easter time they are always empty anyway . Toilet paper, Kleenex tissues, kitchen rolls, all there. Conserves almost everything available. Frozen stuff, all there. Fruits, vegetables, meat, all like usual. We was in three big Hypermarché ( we needed desperate ink for our printer) Super U, Intermarché and Lecrerc . All good sorted with anything. According to a working college from Husband, who lives in Orleans ( 45 km from us) ,the same. Supermarkets are all good sorted.

 

[Satira Capriccio]

I hope that our stores and the online stores ... especially amazon! get back to normal soon. I alternate between reminding myself that out of stock items will be replenished and panicking they won't be replenished before I'm out. Of course, y'all know I'm talking about toilet paper! Scott 1 ply toilet paper was briefly in stock on FreshDirect's website. But ... by the time I added it to my existing order and tried to check out, it was no longer available.

At least my milk was back in stock when I updated my order, so I was able to replace the 1% and the 2% I prefer. So far, my orders have mostly been complete, although they've substituted Kerry Gold butter two weeks in a row since Plugra seems to be going out of stock rather quickly. Fortunately, Kerry Gold is an acceptable substitute. I just prefer Plugra.

Worse, poor Tsuki has to use a substitute cat litter in a few weeks. It's the same brand, but it's scented litter instead of unscented. Hopefully, the scent will not be obnoxious. Why add scent to a litter that is so good at containing odor?!? Not sure why this brand of litter is getting so difficult to get on amazon.

 

[Pendraia]

My husband went and got some stuff from the supermarket today for us and my parents. He was able to get rice and honey and sesame sauce which were difficult to get previously. Pharmacies here also have limits on things Miss B.
I did have problems with buying a web cam locally as they were all out of stock. I was trying to get one for my grandson to use with his uni course.

 

[AnimaGemini]

My husband went and got some stuff from the supermarket today for us and my parents. He was able to get rice and honey and sesame sauce which were difficult to get previously. Pharmacies here also have limits on things Miss B.
I did have problems with buying a web cam locally as they were all out of stock. I was trying to get one for my grandson to use with his uni course.

Here we miss the ink and toner for printer . To print out the permission/attest for every time you need to go out, costs many ink .

 

[Satira Capriccio]

We're allowed to download our permission letter to our phone. Rather than having to carry a printout of the letter.

 

[Hornet3d]

We're allowed to download our permission letter to our phone. Rather than having to carry a printout of the letter.

That seems to be a very good idea, quick and it saves on ink.

 

[AnimaGemini]

We're allowed to download our permission letter to our phone. Rather than having to carry a printout of the letter.

Envy you really. But why makes things easy when it goes also complicated?

 

[McGyver]

DISCLAIMER: The following writing has been posted already by me elsewhere, but things were becoming too serious around here and involving legitimate concerns about food and threats to life and limb... and take it from someone who’s spent a large portion of their life facing threats to life and limb and worrying about food... that’s boring.
What you need in dire circumstances is levity... or levitation... which one is the one where you make fun of serious circumstances to distract yourself from impending doom...
Right... what you need is levitation... just ignore the doom part, okay...



Today I was reading a New York Times article and came up with a great thought... (which I shared with them in the comments section)
During this crisis we are seeing a shortage of toilet paper... and moments before I was reading the article about how toilet paper was being delivered by armed guards to a CVS in Washington, I came across a picture from my trip to the local beach which I posted here a few days back...
Stay with me on this... it could change your life.
Okay, back in the days of Ancient Rome, they had these communal toilets where people pooped together and discussed the events of the day, who decapitated who at the Colosseum and what was the latest rage in semi decayed food... etc... And after the pooping and BSing, the romans would clean their posterior orifices with a Xylospongium (or "Tersorium", depending on which ancient Roman you ask), which is basically a natural sea sponge on a stick.
Okay, don't act shocked... this was Ancient Rome, and that was actually one of less gross things that was common... but don't worry, they didn't just chuck them out, they usually (usually) washed them in a bucket of salt water or vinegar... I'm not sure what they did with the vinegar afterwards, but I don't want to think about it either (that's not the origin of balsamic vinegar... or at least I don't think so...)... which is good, because that was like an early commitment to recycling... right?

In case you are wondering what they looked like...

Anyway...

A few days back when I was down at the beach, I came across a bunch of huge watermelon size chunks of natural sea sponges... which are quite common to see around here, usually after a storm or one of those crab Kaiju comes ashore. These things just sit on the beach and usually just dry up and blow off into the dunes where they eventually crumble into nothingness.
They look something like this...

Well... without the eyes...

So I was thinking... everyone is running out of toilet paper, and everyone is into natural products these days and what is more natural than "Sponge-On-A-Stick"?

Its 100% recyclable... in fact if you just chucked it out the window when you were done, there is a 90% chance a seagull would swoop down and carry it off... at least that's what happens with French fries and chicken nuggets around here... but anyway, you could probably reuse Sponge-On-A-Stick, tens, if not elevens of times before it became too crusty... provided you had a big bucket of vinegar or salt water...
I know you are probably intrigued or mildly disgusted, but hear me out... I could make tons of money on this and some of that money could be yours...

Okay that wasn't a great argument, but it's 100% natural and it's made from soft sponges that died a peaceful natural death at the hands of Mother Nature... and the sticks would be made from natural stick wood, harvested naturally with chainsaws or dynamite...
You are probably looking at that picture and saying "that's gross, it's full of sand and it looks like rotting kelp... but I am intrigued... tell me more..."

Yes... it is full of sand, or as we in the Sponge-On-A-Stick industry like to call it "Silicate mirco-encapsulated power scrubbing nodules"... these tiny little grains of scrubbing power have been packed into every nook, cranny and pore on the sponge by Mother Nature herself using the patented action of tidal motion to drag the sponge back and forth zillions of times across the sand until the sponge is ready for use... And the rotting kelp thing is actually nature's way of ensuring it's soft, yet free of chemicals and harmful dyes that could hurt your bottom... not only that, but Sponge-On-A-Stick comes in "Rustic Beach", "Natural Seashore" and "Sun Dried Crab" scents that are each a unique and unparalleled olfactory experience.

The moment your friends come over they'll all ask... "what's that smell" and you can say "Sponge-On-A-Stick".

I hope I've you convinced because this is a potential gold mine for me and I know you people want me to have your money instead of the evil toilet paper cartels... Besides, if I don't get it someone else will... and if not them, what were you going to spend it on... Rent? Food?... ?

You need to jump on this today before there are evil sponge cartels grabbing up all the sponges, stuffing them in bags and claiming "5 Ultra sponges = 625,000 regular sponges" when you know damn well they are the same damn sponges... you also need to stock up now before the next pandemic which I'm sure will involve zombies or vampire spores which will probably lead to disruptions in the supply chain and lots of sponge hoarding... and since toilet paper can't be found on the seashore (well not always)...( I did find some pants last time... but I'm not sure if they are man made or like natural sea pants)... (anyway)...

So there you have it... Sponge-On-A-Stick... and you can get in on the bottom level and be the first kids on the block to be scrubbing your booty with the wave of the future...

Get it... wave of the future... because it's a sponge and it comes from the sea and the sea has waves... eh, never mind...

Sponge-On-A-Stick... look for it in stores now!
Well, soon... pretty soon... I'm kinda tired now and I don't feel like driving down to the beach and it's like getting late and the seagulls are always pecking me because my jacket smells like crabs... there's a legitimate reason for that, but it's a long story... hopefully I still remember about this tomorrow... but if you see Sponge-On-A-Stick in the stores, you definitely should buy it.


Hey... you wanna see the pants I found?…

Maybe a mermaid lost them... ?

 

[mrsparky]

You know you could be onto a winner there - as long as you chuck in a free pair of socks.

Why do I say that ? Because when some archaeologists dug up a Roman fort near Hadrian's Wall, they found some written evidence of these sponge-sticks in letters scratched onto stones. The stones where 'letters to home' and would describe how grim the fort was. Including the sticks, the dire state of the communal toilets, and how darn cold it was. So could those back in Rome please send socks.

Here's a bit about the fort...
Housesteads Roman Fort is tops for historic Roman toilets says English Heritage

 

[Satira Capriccio]

Some poor castaway lost his pants! Think of him now, all alone on his barely floating raft ... with no pants. And probably no Wilson either. Since Wilson jumped in to try to retrieve the pants.

 

[AnimaGemini]

Here two images from where I live. The beautiful Loire and the farmlands Far away from Big city stress . My best friend used to say, when you continue like this with you choice of places where you live, you end up as eremite. In 13 years from Paris to this.

The Loire shore is usually a bit more crowded . Now empty. Good for the birds btw .
The farmlands are empty as usual. In the background you see the little village where I live .

 

[Janet]

Here two images from where I live. The beautiful Loire and the farmlands Far away from Big city stress . My best friend used to say, when you continue like this with you choice of places where you live, you end up as eremite. In 13 years from Paris to this.

The Loire shore is usually a bit more crowded . Now empty. Good for the birds btw .
The farmlands are empty as usual. In the background you see the little village where I live .

Looks lovely! I moved from Reno NV where I lived 3 blocks from downtown for 20 years to a tiny little town 30 miles outside of Seattle. I love it here! People have said my area is more rain foresty than the actual rain forest that's about 80 miles away. I just know I love the drive from town to my house.

Dang! 4300 cases in Washington state.

 

[McGyver]

I could tell everyone here was highly interested in my new product so today I decided to put together the prototype...

I‘m going to be looking for guinea pigs... er, umm... test volunteers soon...
Please keep in mind that you will be helping to save the world in these trying times... these are ”trying times”... right?
Every company out there keeps saying these are “trying times”... I’ve literally gotten 67,000 emails saying whatever imbecile sent it is looking out for me during these “trying times”...
So... maybe you should be “trying” something new...?

 

[Janet]

 

[McGyver]

The results would be somewhat similar to a Brazilian waxing...