We shopped. We left the old homestead and went shopping. Food-wise, milk-wise common-sense-wise we didn't need to. Conscience and heart wise we did.
Mum lost her next door neighbour last Friday, the day after the anniversary of my Dad's death and I found out about it yesterday morning. Jim was a man who had fought long and hard to stay with his family. He thought he was at death's door when Mum moved into the retirement complex back in 2013 and he really was ill. He and his wife moved there, selling the family home to do so, so that when he died his wife would be surrounded by people she knew and would be safe. Only a very caring man does that.
Anyway he fought on and on, and looked forward to and lived for each next celebration … family birthdays, Christmases, family holidays, anniversaries. Each one became his target to get to and he did it, bravely and without wanting any admiration. He did it out of love for his family and for his life.
He lost that life last week.
I had carried a sympathy card with me in my diary for over a year after one of his illnesses took him within a whiskers breath of death, but ironically when his time came ... and when I had come to believe that this man would go on for ever … the card and me were in different locations and I needed to buy and post another one.
So we ventured out to Tesco, which although a smaller branch sells cards and has a post box, better I thought to visit one location than two. The atmosphere was strange, as we called there later in the day after Alan had finished his work there were no queues to get in, but the lines of barriers were there so obviously they do have them in the mornings. Tables were next to the trollies with disinfectant sprays and wipes for you to wipe down the handle of your trolley and strict rules were posted on boards as you walked in the entrance, which is now separated from the exit so you don't have to pass anyone coming the other way.
They've worked hard to make things safe … all we have to do is work hard to make sure we don't overcrowd them … and stay away when we can.
Being there made me want to make the most of it so I wouldn't have to come back for as long as possible. But we kept well below the limit of three items of any one kind of food per shopper and didn't buy any toilet rolls, even though thanks to the brilliant planning they now had a small selection of it still left on the shelves even at 5.30pm in the evening. I did buy one pack of spaghetti from the large box full still left on the shelf even though I didn't actually have any immediate need of it, perhaps my love of pasta overruled my sensibility for a moment, but I will allow myself the slight panic buy of spaghetti just this once.
We each chose a ready meal for our tea as we were shopping at teatime and knew we wouldn't feel like cooking once we got home. I'm sorry I did ... my Cauliflower Tikka Masala was perhaps the worst ready meal I've had for a long time. Alan however loved his family sized Shepherds Pie and got stuck in with gusto as soon as all the shopping was put away.
As you can see from the top photo we picked up a few bargains. There were two fridges full of yellow-stickered items, so it made sense to have a browse and for once everyone was being very considerate and keeping their distance, no elbowing you out of the way to grab a bargain, much more civilised and queueing to take a look. The whole atmosphere in store was like that, everyone making sure they kept 2m away from each other using the stickered lines marked out on the floor of every aisle to keep to exactly that distance apart.
There were still gaps on shelves and missing items of food, the one that stood out most to me was flour. You cannot get it for love nor money, but the bread aisle was full. Are we suddenly turning into a country of bread makers and bakers … I wonder!! We just bought one loaf for the freezer and a packet of buns for the next days lunch. It will save me having to defrost a pack that is already in the freezer. But we didn't go mad.
Our two bags of shopping were put back into Alan's car, and while he filled up with fuel I wrote out and posted the card for Jim's wife and family and nipped back to the post-box to post it. Then it was a quiet drive home, along roads that are usually bustling with our version of 'rush hour' traffic … we're much quieter than any town would be even in the rush hour here in the Welsh hills!!
It was good to be home, I thought it would feel good to get out ... but it was the getting home that was the treat of the day.
Sue xx
