I need to rant...

Where I live, the Tescos seems to always have a queue.

Sainsbury's seems to have no queue and they only let a certain number of people in at a time.

I don't know if it's the same in other towns.

I'm hearing reports of this from our local Sainsburys and Morrisons and driving past the latter on my way back from caring for my mum the queue to go in was huge.It must be hard if you have a large family to feed or are genuinely low on food but I suspect a large number are just going because it's Easter.And a small minority of numpties are planning to sneak friends and family in for meals etc.I am going nowhere near a major supermarket and will get what I can get locally after the weekend.

Ps Beau Rant away.I feel very much the same today !

Our local M&S is fine. Very well organised. One older man didn't seem to have a clue about social distancing. It was very irritating but he wasn't bad, he just hadn't thought. He noticed me waiting for him to choose some eggs but I pointed out about keeping my distance and he apologised. I suppose it's easy to forget.
The staff aren't there to police customers. Only a certain amount are allowed in at a time. It's amazing peaceful!

I was outside Waitorse at 7.10 for the 7.30 opening, I seemed to be quite a way round the queue, but still got in, in the first group.

They had markers on the floor and I tried to obey them, but the store has been reorganised recently and I still do not know my way round. I was also shopping for a friend in the 'shielded group and she wanted things I do not buy and I wasn't sure where to find and I must confess that a couple of times I was so busy trying to see where the product I was looking for might be I did get a bit closer than 2 metres to people, but backed off quickly when I realised and certainly did not get anywhere near touching or brushing against anyone.

Our M&S was not organised in store at all. They were letting far too many people in at once. I will be avoiding the supermarkets now as much as I can.

Our local Tesco:

1. Excellent queueing system outside store, well marked out, only so many allowed in at a time, one person per trolley if possible, trolleys cleaned by staff before each use.

2. One way system around store, store marked out in squares, follow my leader system.

3. Staff direct you to available checkout in orderly fashion, Perspex screen in front of checkout assistant, card payment preferred.

4. Exit store separately to queueing people.

The one way system makes it a slower experience, but feels as safe as possible, and well done to our local Tesco for being so well organised, efficient and helpful.

Beau I had a similar experience to you in M&S Food today. There for the 8am oldies priority hour. No organisation in store like Tesco. A one way system was needed. Trolleys passing alongside each other in opposite direction made safe distancing impossible. I felt sorry for staff who were in the middle of some aisles with piles of crates stacked up trying to stock shelves which of course added to the congestion. I was glad to get out. The shop wasn’t even overly busy but trolleys going in opposite directions and negotiating their way around staff stocking shelves was unsafe chaos

Why don't more people use click and collect? It's not just for drivers. You can take a trolley or pushchair and just pick up your shopping - simple!

Because there are no click & collect slots, either, Hetty58? There are none here for any supermarket. My local branch of Tesco has actually stopped C&C and I’d have to drive 20+ miles to the nearest C&C point. No available delivery slots, needless to say.

It's always a free-for-all at Easter and Christmas as though people hadn't a minute to live, nothing and nobody else matters.
Society at its worst. Makes no difference to the grabbers what's in force so long as they get what they want sod everyone else.

They'd be the ones crowing the loudest if they caught the virus though.

And of course so long as the food companies are raking it in they're not going to bother about organisation either.

There are weeks to go of these bun-fights yet

I make a point of going very early, ideally when it is cold/windy/raining and have managed to get round my local Lidl without any problems or queuing.
(Three weeks ago I did manage to bring the virus home from a shopping trip despite all my precautions, thankfully a mild dose which I amazingly didn’t pass on to my OH)

Hallo, I have a daughter self isolating with my two grandchildren ages 8 and 41/2. Can anyone suggest anyway I can help her when I am self isolating myself? Any games the kids and I could share over FTime etc? I feel so powerless to help her . Thanks for any ideas .

My adult kids introduced me to an app called Houseparty. It’s free to download. Once each household is registered we can all be on screen together which in itself is a treat. But there are age appropriate interactive quizzes and games to play with each other. My youngest grandkids are 5 and 6. Their favourite feature is the drawing game where asked to draw an item on smart screen using finger and the other households guess what it might be. It’s a great way of having fun with the kids and passing an hour

PS I sometimes do a simplified version of that myself on FaceTime with a little quiz I’ve made up in advance. It’s a chance so slip in a few sums and some spelling that counts towards home schooling sessions!

Not all of us have access to Click and Collect Hetty our Tesco doesn’t offer it. It’s crossed out on the notice board, but it was never in a separate building as I understand is the case elsewhere, it was just at the ‘cigarette’ counter.