Testing Shopping And Eating Out
The last few days have been horribly September-ish so the promised sunshine was a good excuse to get out. £26 Boots’ loyalty points and a book gift card from R from February were added incentive.
Apart from my hat blowing off and making my forehead tacky, it was a pleasant enough walk (circa 3 miles there). Passed one bloke with dog on path. I moved to the inside so the dog was on the outer edge but other than that neither of us budged even an inch let alone two metres. And he boomed ‘Good’. Presumably meaning he too wasn’t paranoid about social distancing.
Loads of pavement markers everywhere to reinforce the need to keep one’s distance – which most only bothered with when forced too.
Spent my loyalty points and got a freebie on top. The gift card was spent on The Prisoners of Geography – which I am going to read cover to cover. (Not.) Then popped into Superdrug who do not deliver any salicylic products. Click and Collect only. Except they don’t sell them in the Rustington store either. Bit daft. But did get a rash cream reduced to 40p – which she was going to charge me full price for till I pointed it out.
Oh, and I bought some green makeup. Photo above is with blue makeup – which is also my getting older without giving a damn thing. There is some barely spoken dictum that when we get older, less is more. Not going to overdo anything but I suddenly felt the need for some colour on my eyes. Hence the blue and now green shadow.
(The neon green muzzle is for face covering should it be asked for as the scarf version (see photo in earlier post) was way too hot.
And on to Waitrose.
The queue – apparently reduced – was right round the block. So no Waitrose.
Lunch. Or not.
Plenty of eateries were full but I chose the Italian which was almost empty. Sat down and was asked to sanitise my hands. Happy to do so. Asked for my name and telephone number. Less happy. Asked why and he said something about contacting me if anyone got Covid.
The restaurant was practically EMPTY. There were THREE other people there.
Said no thanks and went off to Estabilo. Crummier food and glasses that do not appeal but despite wanting me to ‘fill out a form’ on my way out, they didn’t make a song and dance, so I had a drink and a light snack. And did not fill out the form.
Walked back through Ham Manor across the golf course. Been a while as it’s less pleasant when the weather is off. The other way through it has shown up the chavvier neighbours with some gardens untended and overgrown during lockdown. This other way is a bit more ‘exclusive’.
Or was.
Large partitioned off area on one of the more attractive partially wooded areas of the golf course.
I asked a golfer whether they were building more homes there and it seems they are. Two years they had been fighting to stop it, the Irish man said. I sympathised and said where I lived they were also building on every spare green space.
Almost back home but then decided to have some actual lunch at The Lamb.
Sadly, it was practically empty though there may have been more in the garden at the back. Heavens knows how they will break even.
Lockdown has been utter madness for the economy, for people struggling to make a living and for creating a climate of fear. Most of those dying – and, to be frank, the numbers are not a lot higher than usual death rates, are those who are elderly, infirm or with dodgy immune systems.
It will take a long time to change mental perceptions with regard to work as well as health.
It’s clearly not just in the UK so someone or some powerful group has forced the entire world to become fearful and kill their economies for around half a million deaths globally. Meaning that is nothing in the scale of things.
And yes of course I feel great sorrow for those who have lost loved ones, for those whose health is struggling to return to normal. But they are not the norm. And the majority are being punished for those sad few.