I think I need to self-isolate a little harder. Clearly my brane haz da fale.
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I’ll tell you what, despite that you’re all cunts, I’m so glad we have our little community here. We all know eachother so well, we can talk without fear or favour.
Social distancing can get to fuck…we have AA 
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I agree, as long as you stay in Norfolk in your nano-garage… 
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I went into a large Asian supermarket in town yesterday, mainly to get some fresh coriander and ginger. No empty shelves there, plenty of rice, fresh veg, flour etc. Plus meat in the butchery department.
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Its the same here, both Asian supermarkets i visited yesterday had normal stock levels.
I assume those that panic buy are those that dont want any of that ‘foreign rubbish’.
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Yeah this is the problem. We don’t know the truth, but long experience has told us not to trust those currently trying to reassure is.
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We have a daily stand-up video call at 9am, Mon-Fri and have implemented the hat-rule. All participants must be wearing a hat when speaking. Daily award for best hat.
Yesterday I was daffodil, today a witch. 
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I think there will be issues with food supplies if/when the imported food starts to dry up. This was something I pointed out to the Brexit twats in work (M&S) - a big percentage of the food M&S sell is imported.
I’m working a few shifts in the next few days so will find out how our gaff is.
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It’ll be interesting to see what measures our work have put in place now that we are deemed as critical workers. I’m usually very critical of my work so won’t make much difference to me 
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Exactly what our high street butcher told Mrs VB about 40 minutes ago. He had a fair amount of meat then, but no chicken because his is mostly imported and the supermarkets have more clout with the importers than he does.
Not heard of him, but is a nob
Enjoying the remix…
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Peter Skinner has posted an update on Mik’s condition on PFM
Best of luck, Mik. Hang on in there!
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I reported yesterday that our local convenience store had closed/shuttered up. I thought that perhaps a positive coronavirus may have been responsible.
The reason was that they had a delivery of goods and customers were ripping open boxes before they could be shelved, things were getting quite feisty . Moronic fuckwits the lot of 'em, makes you feel ashamed of the so called community.
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This is also going to be a problem - do they only supply food etc to the big hitters and local suppliers get nothing ?
My mate works in an Asda and he says the bosses are creaming themselves about the money they’re making but still don’t give a fuck about their staff. I suspect my place will be much the same - they all talk a good a game.
Neither to be fair. It’s an evolving situation, and we do need to prepare for changing food availability. Bit by bit some types of produce are going to become hard to obtain as movement restrictions take hold of pretty much the whole planet.
We rely heavily on foreign imports of fresh produce. The supply chain for that is fast dwindling. Supermarkets are already squabbling over UK alternatives Sam tells me. This will push prices up soon, and then most out-of-season fresh produce will start to vanish. This is unfamiliar, but actually fairly unimportant.
UK-grown fresh produce (fruit & veg) is going to be slow to the market and in short supply for a bit - nothing to do with CV19 and everything to do with the long, wet winter. How short supply? Well, this week a large local producer went back over a potato field that had already been harvested and processed the heaps of unwanted undersized potatoes left to rot. Those will have to be hand-picked-through! for the sake of maybe 5 - 20 tonnes : that is completely unprecedented in modern agriculture.
Local growers are planting early here, in higher density, and in costly ways (hand-planting, poly-covered, etc), to try and pick-up some slack in their own finances and to meet coming demand. Set-aside really should be set aside now, not that I see it happening.
If the weather’s kind, UK arable production will peak around the same time that CV19 cases do (Jun/Jul). If other nations haven’t peaked much earlier and leapt back into the breach, then expect effective rationing of all fresh produce for at least 6-12 months. Dig the lawn up and get planting, rescue some ex-battery hens/milch-kine/nourishing-sheeps/W.H.Y…
What’s hurting us, will hurt most of the planet - and even those bits like China who are past the worst of CV19 already rely heavily on food imports, so it’s no good looking there or anywhere else - unless we sort-out distribution networks, which there’s no sign of, we’re all in uncharted Shitland.
Dry goods have taken a pounding thanks to the panic-buyers, and this is bad in the short term for obvious reasons, and bad long-term because people will not effectively ration their own usage, so it won’t last as long as the same volume in normal times…
It’s going to take a brave politician to do it, but we need to introduce rationing ASAP - I hope a well-qualified team is studying data for import volumes, predicted shortfalls, likely production, substitution, demand, diversion from brewing & confectionery to bulk food, etc. etc. so this can be modelled and handled properly. It does need to happen fast, because the modern food-supply chain has absolutely zero redundancy, which means we have the potential to experience genuine hardship a few months down the road, and the concomitant breakdown of law-and-order won’t be pretty…
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Not been able to get bread the last 3 days on way home after work
Might be a good time to start making it
Thankfully the gammon-iest ‘Keep calm & Carry On’ brigade wouldn’t be seen dead in such a place.
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Very perceptive Allan. Sam has to deal with the morons in the supermarkets - and unfortunately they really are fucking morons: they think of nothing at-all but the bottom-line and their personal bonuses. They are as horrible and incompetent a shower of shits as you are anticipating. It will take serious and courageous external intervention to get them in line and ensure fair food distribution in coming months. Don’t hold your breath…
I agree. People will put up with a very great deal as long as they have some certainty. But uncertainty will turn them either nasty or despairing.
VB
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Small PS: on the upside, the local food industry, all the way from growing to retail, is urgently recruiting - many of them preferentially taking-on workers who have been suddenly-flytipped by cunts like Britannia etc.