Restrictions are easing – are you doing anything differently?

As restrictions have eased this week I’ve seen images and comments from so many people online who are thrilled that certain shops have opened back up.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I understand that shops need to open at some point in order to avoid closing permanently and to ensure people keep their jobs. I get that and I fully support that as a motivation – assuming it is safe for everyone of course. I’m just personally not in a huge hurry to go to any shops at all.

This is probably because it was never a big thing for me in the first place. I’m not someone who uses going to the shops as a way to pass the time, or as a hobby – I actually can’t think of anything worse. The bulk of the time I’m happy to order things online and avoid the shops at all costs – COVID-19, in that sense is no exception.

I’m interested to hear how those people who have been out shopping have got on though. How did you find it? Were you happy the shops had put in the necessary social distancing measures and did people in general adhere to them?

What is everyone buying?

I saw a picture of a couple who had been shopping and bought ten handbags. I mean…really? TEN handbags, you can only use one at a time. Their comment to the person interviewing them was that the prices were good, shops had slashed the prices of all their items, so they were making the most of it!

Some shops apparently had huge queues outside them. What exactly is it that people so desperately need that they will queue for hours? I mean, so many people are still in loungewear sets anyway.

Sticking to online

If like me, you are avoiding the shops like the plague and sticking to online shopping, how are you finding ordering and delivery?

Whilst there were some quite big delays at the start of lockdown in terms of ordering items and when they got delivered, for several weeks now everything has arrived within fairly normal timescales which is really impressive considering what has been going on in the world.

We’ve had two family birthdays so far in lockdown and managed to get hold of everything we needed to make these special, so there is no mad rush to go anywhere for anything else.

I had already been doing over 80% of my shopping online and I’ve proven to myself that providing we can get things delivered okay, we can get everything we need as a family of six online.

Early on in lockdown we were having to travel to the supermarket once every ten days ish for food, as we were unable to get a delivery slot, but things have greatly improved on this front, so we’ve not even done that for weeks now.

One thing I struggled to get hold of for a few weeks was a Swingball. I’ve been wanting to order one of these for the garden for ages but I guess everyone had the same idea! We’ve got hold of one now and the children are loving it.

The children seem to have grown so tall in this lockdown period, so I have ordered a few new bits and bobs for them, like trainers, crop tops and a few pairs of shorts given all the nice weather we’ve been having.

I’ve mainly been in loungewear, fitness wear or just old stuff I can garden in, or get generally messy with the children in. We have done tons of baking, painting, gluing and sticking, and loads of muddy things in the garden, so it’s not really been a time to be wearing much else.

How about you? Are you back to work? Are your children back at school? Are you spending time outside or relaxing inside?

The new normal

What do you think the new normal will be for you as far as shopping goes? Have you been supporting your local farm shops perhaps? If so, will you continue to do this, or revert back to your previous shopping habits?

This is a collaborative article.