TALES FROM THE APOCALYPSE

There's is an old expression, often mistaken to be (though never proven) from ancient China that goes “May you live in interesting times!”.

Well, these aren't so much 'interesting' as downright bizarre.

When I was a little kid I remember the mornings when they used to test the air raid sirens (something that used to scare the hell out of me) in case they ever had to be used. I remember seeing public information films on TV warning us of the dangers of rabies and what we should do if we saw an animal (wild or domestic) in the UK who seemed to be infected. I remember not long after the attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11^th that the government issued to every household a booklet on how the public should act / react in the event of a terrorist attack on the UK (similar in vein to the Protect & Survive booklets in the 1970s).

But nothing like this.

We have a cupboard in our house we call the Isolation Cupboard. Specially emptied for this crisis, we have stocked it with a variety of tinned and packet foods in preparation for the time we have to lock ourselves inside our own house. There's food in the freezer too – specifically bought for the same purpose. Oh, and a 6 pint carton of milk, frozen in preparation. We didn't panic buy these items, but added a few here and there to our weekly food shopping lists, and now, over the weeks, have managed to collect together enough food to feed us during the two week isolation period.

There is a huge, home-made sign that's been erected by the side of the road right on the edge of my town which reads “GO HOME. SAVE LIVES”. So far no one's taking notice of it, they're still coming into the town in droves. On one street in town someone has spray painted on a white wall in big letters: 'SAVE LIVES, STAY AT HOME'.

Last week I called my mum and had to cancel a pre-Easter family get-together as she is over 70 with a heart condition and my dad is over 70 with diabetes. I just can't run the risk of being the one who, unknowingly and unwittingly, brings the virus into their house. She's promised me that she'll text every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, to keep me updated on their health - so I know they're still there. I'm now probably not going to see them again until June / July, four months from now. My wife's parents live just 5 doors down from us, she's had to stop seeing them too (for the same reasons as my parents). She's told them that occasionally we'll come round and stand a safe distance away at the front gate while they stand at the front door of their house and we can chat for a few mins.

There was a picture on an online news site last week showing a long line of stationary cars all lining up waiting to get into Scarborough. Most of these weren't carrying residence, they were tourists completely ignoring the 'limit your movements' request.

Freinds of mine, who live over 100 miles away, but have a second home here in town and also own a bar and cafe here, have had to close their business for the foreseeable future (they've only owned the bar/cafe for about 5 months, it's only been open since January). They arrived this weekend to empty the kitchen and the rest of the premises of all perishable foods - they even asked us if we could take some of the cake and milk off their hands, the rest they were taking away for family. We won't see them now for several months as they won't be able to travel between homes anymore.

People are standing outside shops in town half an hour before they open so they can get in immediately, while others believe themselves to have some kind of special privileges not afforded to others, simply because they are older. This morning one woman was waiting outside a shop with a product in her hand, with the receipt, telling her husband “Oh, the young man's seen us, he'll let us in.” This 'young man' was actually letting in the (increasingly stressed and overstretched) staff who were arriving to get the shop ready as there was still 25 minutes before the shop opened. I heard the approaching staff sigh and mumble to one other “Oh god, she's back again!!” I told the woman the shop doesn't open until 9am. She replied “Oh, I know, but I'm over 70 so I'm allowed in before everyone else.” Actually, this isn't really true - age doesn't mean you get to go into the shop 30 mins before it opens, being over 70 means (in some stores at least) that you, along with those in poor health or with disabilities, get the first opening hour to shop in isolation before the rest of the public are allowed in. Age doesn't give you the right to make a nuisance of yourself.

My wife is part of these massively put upon and harassed staff. She works in the public health sector and the increasingly selfish and ignorant behaviour of those who aren't even part of the 20% of the country in serious risk from the virus is causing her to come home stressed, unhappy and giving her sleepless nights and anxiety about having to go to work each day and cope with the idiots who are exacerbating this crisis. 

While queuing up waiting to be served in a small local supermarket the other day, I noticed signs that were stuck to the front of every cash-till telling people to observe the 'personal distancing' request and queue one meter apart from the person in front and from the person behind. No one was paying any attention. They were all standing on top of each other, desperate to get to the front of the queue.

The supermarket shelves are, for the most part, bare. When new stock does arrive, it flies off the shelves so fast by late afternoon / early evening it's all gone again. The big supermarket in our town has begun to close early so that its staff are able to clean the store and get the shelves stocked up in time for the madness that begins almost immediately the doors are opened the following day.

I've never seen anything like this. I don't think anyone has in the UK, not since the end of food rationing in the mid-1950s at least.

My parents had planned to isolate themselves from this week and do all their food shopping online. But they've been told there are no delivery slots available. Now they have no choice but  to continue going outside to shop, either that or get someone to do the food shopping for them. An 80 year old of their acquaintance also attempted to shop online for food, but was told they wouldn't be able to deliver until the end of April at the earliest.

I'm not so much worried about Covid-19 as I am about food and supplies running so low in the shops that it becomes almost impossible to get hold of. I'm worried for my parents and for those people it will effect should they continue to be forced to go outside. People are panic buying for no reason and it's causing a huge problem. For the most part, those panic buying aren't in the 'danger category', they're just selfish people who are pushing this country to the brink of chaos just because they don't have the intelligence or humanity to do what's right and decent.