It's not always that easy

We are still allowed to go to the supermarket, chemist, Dr, and vet here in France. We have to carry a signed and dated attestation for each trip to show to the Gendarmes if we are stopped. We can't go together just one person. My husband was stopped yesterday.
There are no home deliveries here anyway and click and collect in towns only.

For the second time I have tried to get onto the Ocado site. I have a slot booked for early April but, with hardly any of the things on it that I now need.
I spent nearly two hours waiting as I went through three different queues, got to the end of the last one, only for the page to vanish and a sign come up saying it was the wrong gateway or something similar. I went back a page to find myself right at the back of the queue again.
The reason I am trying to get on early is that, last week I tried to add something to my order for the next day and got a notice apologising that editing was not possible.
Ocado says they are going to improve the site in the early hours tonight and it should be better tomorrow but, that happened last week as well and there was no improvement.
I am not blaming Ocado, they are obviously overwhelmed.I just want to point out to those that say airily it is easy to get a grocery delivery, it isn’t!

I have just read about Morrisons food boxes. I think they are a bit like the lucky bags we used to buy as children. I have ordered one . It will come on Friday, though there was not one single normal delivery date available at all. I will report back.

Aldi are having a big recruitment drive here at the moment!

Supermarkets could help by extending their delivery hours, round the clock if necessary. They have the vans and there must be people who can't do their normal job who could drive them.
I use Tesco online: have a delivery coming tonight for us and Dad together, one booked for next Monday, then there's nothing at all until after April 18th apart from a few click and collect slots at a shop in the next town half an hour away.
So we'll have to go out again, whereas we'd be quite happy not to.

Well said Tuppence15. Keep safe Shrub. There are very many people like you. Of course people can go out shopping even if we go into lockdown. People do actually NEED to buy food in order to EAT. Not everyone has a car so can only buy what they can carry. And what is the difference between filling a car so you don't need to go out again and stock piling/ panic buying? It's a very fine line!!

Hopefully gilly there will be community scheme which will be able to deliver - that is what is happening round here. In the lock-down countries people are allowed out every few days to shop. And local stores are starting to do deliveries now.

I'm not quite 70, live alone and not in any health risk catagory. I have no family near enough to shop for me and I do not want to put anyone else to put themselves at risk for me so I shall do it myself, following all distancing measures. I will be wondering how many passers by will be criticising me!

If we end up in lockdown will I still be able to shop for my dad and probably my DD too?

Yes, in lockdown countries you are still able to shop for food and medication I think.

Aren’t people allowed to go to supermarkets in countries that are locked down? I was assuming that we would be able to go out, probably alone, to get food , assuming we can find any.

When you get home from shopping and have removed your gloves before you get into the car, shower, wash hair, change all clothes and put clothes you wore in the washing machine and wash straight away.

There is no such dichotomy in the present circumstances. Rome might have burned while Nero fiddled, but nowadays the nation might follow Rome into disaster while some philosophise.

Where there is a true dichotomy is being told that over 70s should stay at home while there is no way to access food shopping without breaking that rule.

Forgot to say though, that to allow our borders to remain open is madness.
Stop the flights and ships/ ferries arriving.

We’ve been told to stay at home.
If there are any failings it’s down to us, for years we have been moaning about the Nanny State, now they are telling us to STAY AT HOME. And yet there are posters on here still going out and baby sitting.
What don’t these people understand?
It isn’t the governments fault it’s ours. Start taking some responsibility.

Before anyone jumps on me , I know that some people have no choice but to go out and I’m sure that they are taking PPS
But to all others tell your adult children to stay at home.
I also notice that many pubs are doing take aways , and while the customers are waiting they are serving them with drinks, at the tables, so almost full pubs.
Well done idiots.

I live in Cumbria and will continue to do mountain walks but be careful to choose less challenging walks to keep the risk of accidents low. Will aim to go to very quiet places with DH.

I am surprised at how nasty the country is getting towards “old people”. We are trying to social distance as much as possible, but as discussed before there are no slots for home delivery and nothing on the shelves when you go shopping. Last week I had to visit three supermarkets just to get a few bits and pieces. We try to walk on our local beach for a bit of fresh air but now the schools have closed the beach is covered in families.
We have no family or friends to do our shopping for us and any way DH is over 70 but I am not so I suppose technically it falls to me.
The other thing that confuses me is how people pay all these friends and neighbours for the shopping. Do they pop up to the local post office or bank to get some cash out, and doesn’t that rather defeat the object.
My eighty year old mother asked me the other day if it was alright to give her carer her bank card to get some money out to pay for her groceries.
Most of us are trying our best after all we don’t want to die from this, but a little more kindness and understanding towards “old people” who are after all human beings not just statistics wouldn’t go amiss.

EllenVannin Hetty58
I think you’re both right. I think this has been mismanaged from the word go. There was plenty of evidence from China and Italy emerging, the WHO said outright Britain was taking the wrong route. We were told we had to allow the virus to circulate and then we’d get ‘herd immunity.’ But there’d be a lot of deaths. IRRESPONSIBLE,
That’s playing with people’s lives. It’s saying some people, probably mainly older people, are expendable. It’s nothing short of disgusting, in my opinion. Now, too late, as Ellan says, the advice is different, but not anywhere near strong enough. Italy is in lockdown, whole states in America are in lockdown, China had lockdown, Paris has lockdown, Spain has lockdown. We need to be in lockdown too. Not tomorrow, NOW.

geekesse, normally, it's none of my business either. We are not in a normal situation, though, far from it. It IS my business when people are putting my family's lives at risk!

I am the somebody else doing it ! For gods sake .

I think we’d all get along better if we took full responsibility for what we do as individuals, and stop concerning ourselves with what others do. I have to go to work, and for my short walk there, and in the workplace, I shall stay 6ft away from others. Apart from that I am avoiding all physical contact with other people. Others may have good reasons to go out or into shops, or they may just be careless or selfish, but either way, it’s none of my business.

Hetty58. Spot on. How many elderly people “have to” go shopping ? Of course it’s not easy, for heaven’s sake it is a pandemic! I honestly think some people are still “denying”

I just read through this (all the above) again. OK 'it's not always that easy' - true, but how many people are making real efforts to stop the shopping and get somebody else to do it?

Here, we have plenty of volunteers - and a lot of obstinate old folk flatly refusing to accept help or change their ways. They use the 'have to go shopping' as an excuse!

Of course, with our level of testing, we can't give valid information either.

I agree EllanVannin, that government interventions began too late and don't go far enough. 'Why didn't we? Easy, to protect the economy - a lost hope now - and by our 'leaders' opting to ignore advice from the WHO.

We don't really know about the situation in Russia (or China or Iran for that matter) as they're not known to offer accurate information.

Apparently 367 cases in Russia with 1 death. I asked Alexa.