QUEUES - queuing to go inside shops became the norm from an early stage of Lockdown, even with supermarkets who were limiting the number of customers in store at any one time - with queues meant of course to observe social distancing, which did not always look to be the case from TV pictures.
A
walk up to my Market Square for essentials items involved queuing
outside the butchers - only 2 allowed inside; queuing outside the
pharmacy - ditto; and queuing outside the greengrocers with its limit
of four inside. So at least 30 minutes spent queuing outside - thank goodness
it wasn't raining. On the positive note, it was a welcome chance to have a chat with fellow shoppers.
It took me back to pictures during the Second World War when the daily lot of housewives was to queue up for their shopping - with of course the added stress of items being scarce, rationing in force and they could only buy what they could carry home.
Anyone identified as having contact with a person who has tested positive for Covid was required to go into Quarantine or Social Isolation at home for 14 days - later changed to 10 days. Quarantine was also required where someone had travelled into the UK from an area where Covid was spreading rapidly.
Criticism was levelled at the the UK being very slow to bring in such restrictions, but eventually Quarantine Hotels were designated near airports and travellers had to pay £1750 for the driveler of staying there.
On a personal note - My
brother worked in oil industry management in India with a month out there and
month back home . When he travelled out, he was in quarantine for 14
days - in a luxury hotel, stuck in his room, with meals delivered to
his door and the technology set up to allow him to work online. Only
when he had tested negatively a number of times over the period was he
allowed out. Arriving back in the UK, he was required to isolate at
home, given he had had regular negative tests, which he had to pay for.
All to safeguard the spread of Covid.
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Images courtesy of Pixabay
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We had a lot lines here also-especially in the beginning when the numbers allowed in places was very small. Did you brother's company pay for his quarantine hotel in India or was that a difference between countries?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. Yes, my brother’s employer is paying for his hotel accommodation.
DeleteLots of queuing going on here in NYC -- and thank goodness for those sticky dots on the floor six feet apart! Still, I try to confine most of my shopping to larger shops that can handle the flow without a queue. https://mollyscanopy.com/2021/04/questioning-everything-atozchallenge/
ReplyDeleteI'm with Molly. Thank goodness for the sticky dots on the floor. We humans just can't help ourselves and naturally congregate. Quarantine has been a pretty sore point here when you are paying through the roof for meals in a brown paper bag. But it has kept us safe. The border closures have made even domestic tourism a bit touch and go and people are more inclined to travel within their state rather than getting caught interstate and suddenly the holiday costing twice or three times as much due to quarantine.
ReplyDelete