Pear Necessities

329 days ago, way way back, when the UK entered version 1.0 of lockdown. When there were queues stretching back for miles, social distancing was strictly adhered too and you could enter the shops without having a mask over your face. Back when the nation was stocking up for impending doom, and the shelves were bereft of toilet paper and pasta, I completed a shopping mission for Mrs U and her husband.

Not much has changed. But everything has changed. We are still in lockdown, social distancing is now a way of life, as is leaving the house and checking ‘keys, wallet, phone, face mask’. The stock not in shops isn’t due to panic buying but instead due to Brexit. And I completed another shopping mission for Mrs U and her husband!

I made a call to confirm her list, and after work I made the trip to the big Tesco’s as requested. The last mission for Mrs U involved a very, very long wait in a line snaking around the car park. Today I managed to waltz right in, and started the shop.

The list was as follows: Wholemeal batch rolls (2 packets of 6), Half ripe bananas (5 or 6) Green top milk (4 pints) Conference pears Natural fat yoghurt 2 (1kg) Margarine if on offer clover or flora original (2 packs of 500g) A birthday card for a 12 year old And if you can get to Lidl, 2 boxes of black seedless grapes

I managed to get nearly all the goods in at Tesco. There was even flora on offer for a pound! The last thing on the list were the rolls, and I turned the trolley into the bakery aisle. Yoghurt to be kidding me, I thought! There was only one packet of the requested wholemeal baps left. I asked the shop assistant who was unloading bagels and buns, if there were any more, but unfortunately not. So no pear of packets for me and Mrs U.

I queued for a while, and paid up, then did a little google to see if there was a Lidl close by. The closest was over three miles away, and past Mrs U’s, so I made the executive decision to bypass the grapes and instead deliver what I did have.

As I cycled up the hill, I was reminded of my last visit here, where I had to lug 10 kilos of chapatti flour up the hill, and felt glad that it was a relatively light shop in comparison!

Shopping delivered, I would be more than happy to do another mission for Mrs U, although I also hope that in the next 329 days time, we might be out of lockdown!