Supermarket Weep

Hello Dear readers!

Today, right now in fact, you join an exasperated and annoyed seated person.

Why so? You might ask. What could have possibly made such an even-tempered (HA!) and urbane (double HA!) individual lose the proverbial tatty bit of cloth.

Allow me to rant.

A Dead Parrot Bounce
This chapter of my ongoing struggle to make some sense is a little late. Usually the blog post is ready(ish) and raring to go on a Sunday evening (UK time). This week however there was a technical glitch which resulted in me leaving the house with a complete blog post and returning to find it no longer existed. It was no more; it had expired and gone to meet its maker. A stiff. Bereft of life…. To stop parroting Monty Python and cut a long story short, it was an ex-blog post. (Lovely plumage, though).

Of course, opportunity and disaster are close cousins and the lack of yesterday’s post has given me an ideal opportunity to complain most vociferously about the events of less than half an hour ago. It also spares you a post that dipped into politics so we’ve both come out with a win!

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

Roll With It

As you may or may not know, I am not at the peak of physical fitness. In fact, if you’ve read the little bio under the title of this blog (Right at the top of the page, that’s it, now one line down), you’ll know that as well as being a wheelchair user (thanks to the Spina Bifida I was born with), I also landed myself a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (See here). Now, the second of these conditions puts me in the ‘vulnerable’ camp when it comes to Covid-19. I’m not as vulnerable as someone under cancer treatment or with emphysema or lung disease, but I’m still on the list. It doesn’t help that my Lymphocyte count is through the floor, down to the second sub-basement, and digging a tunnel to Australia. As these white blood cells form an important part of the immune system, this is not helpful.

Now, as I am aware of all of this, and as I don’t want to get ill, I’ve been keeping my social distance from my fellow man. In fact, over the last few weeks I’ve hardly set a front wheel out of the house, except for an occasional dog walk and the dropping off and picking up from work of the wife. Today however, well today we found out we were running low on toilet-roll. It meant... a trip to the shop.

I know. I wasn’t looking forward to it either. However, needs must, and the trip would also give me the chance to pick up some chocolate and some wine. I therefore put on my big-boy pants, a clean T-shirt, and set off.

Shop Floor
There’s a choice of shop for the items I was looking for. You name a major brand and it’s probably there (not Waitrose, mind you. We’re not posh round here), and there’s a range of sizes too. After my last foray, an early morning trip that found shelves still being stocked and choice severely hampered, I settled for a larger Co-op which theoretically would be quieter than the big boys and still give me the room to manoeuvre away from people.

This did not go well.

The shop itself was not too busy, with maybe a dozen people wandering up and down the carefully marked out aisles. Tape had been put on the floor at 2 metre intervals, and arrows showed in which direction the aisle was to be traversed. It’s an excellent system, easy to understand, and easy to comply to.

Why then, people were wandering the wrong way up the wrong aisle, paying little to no attention to how close they were to others and stopping dead in front of the washing-up liquid to consult their shopping list (pro-tip: they all do the same); why they were ignoring the in/out queue to rush in before the papers ran out; why they were doubling back on themselves to pick up forgotten items, I do not know. It made what should have been a quick and easy trip more akin to a game from It’s A Knockout, and it made me feel exactly like the category I’m in. Vulnerable.

Kicking The Habit
One thing about being a wheelchair user is your footprint (Wheelprint?), is rather large. It makes you awkward, clumsy, and forever in the way (or so it can seem.) When you’re trying to stay away from people and they aren’t reciprocating, this effect is multiplied. You’re an obstacle, something to squeeze by or walk round, you’re in the way and you don’t always have the manoeuvrability to get out of it.

Of course the people in one shop at one time should not stand as representing the whole, and even within that small sample some were observing the restrictions better than others. However, as lockdown continues, it is becoming easier to become a little blase about it. It’d human nature, to adapt to new rules, to learn them, incorporate them and then to let things slide just a little. It’s like driving. You learn to drive; you pass your test, and for a while you drive as you were taught. Then bad habits creep in as your familiarity rises. Speed limits become targets. Ten-to-two becomes one hand on the wheel and one tuning the radio. It’s normal. It’s natural. It’s human. 

One other factor that could be in play is the growing talk of restrictions being lifted in some measure. This could happen as quickly as this Thursday, and I think on some possibly subconscious level, people are thinking those restrictions have already loosened. Sadly, they haven’t and neither has Covid-19 been defeated. Restrictions may be lifted soon, but that will not be the war won. The virus could, and indeed is likely to, raise its head again. It means that we should all still be vigilant. We should come out of our social distancing slowly and with caution. If we don’t, we could be back to this point again.

Hopefully, I’m overreacting. Hopefully, we don’t get there. Hopefully, a vaccine is discovered soon, and covid-19 becomes a thing of the past. Until then, I’m not shopping.

Until next time…