I’m seriously starting to suspect that the fallout from this damn virus has been a good excuse to see how much a population can be controlled, and how many excuses they can come up with for job losses, bad service, extra taxes… The list goes on.

I did my usual shop on Saturday, and was pleasantly surprised to find no queue to get in. The reason? The shoppers were all being held hostage inside at the tills. This was unknown to me, until I’d quickly completed my shopping, and then found the queue to pay. After twenty minutes, no exaggeration, I’d almost reached the front of the queue. The man in front was grumbling about the wait, and I too joined in. We were told they were short-staffed, and they only had 3 tills open, in a large supermarket. A member of staff was sat at an empty till which was for baskets only, and 2 staff were hovering around the self-service tills basically doing nothing. I stated they should have put a warning on the way in, and that frankly had I known, I would have gone to Sainsbury’s instead. Miraculously, the assistant found 2 more staff and they opened 2 more tills. I will not be shopping there next week! I think this is a very British thing; we queue without complaint (mostly) and shops simply get away with poor customer service.

Halfords (retailer of car parts, tools etc) was no better in that I walked around the whole store trying to find what I wanted. There were no assistants, just the girl on the till who was chatting on the phone. I stood nearby and after a few minutes of being ignored, meaningfully looked at my watch. She didn’t take the hint, had no interest in helping me, so I left. Shops that offer little or no customer service do not deserve customers.

The following day I had to collect my eyedrops from the chemist inside a different supermarket along with a few items I couldn’t get on the weekly shop, and I noted with some dismay that there was a queue of about 40 people. I know, and appreciate, that we all want to be safe, but I’m so over this whole thing now and long for some sense of normalcy.

Hairdressers can open next month, though I’ve read of one hairdresser who has over a thousand people who have made appointments so goodness knows how long it will take me to get one. By the time I get an appointment we’ll probably be under lockdown again thanks, in part, to the rioters and protesters. I’ve had a letter stating I’m overdue for an eye test and that they’re now offering tests. I’ve made an appointment though must wait over a month. Yawn...

Don’t mind me, I’m in a bad mood and climbing the walls. I usually have no social life to speak of anyway, and I do have my part time job, however I miss simple things like having a quiet coffee before/after grocery shopping, and simply going where I want to go without having to join some horrendous queue.

During my time off I’ve been (late) Spring-cleaning. I’ve condensed a few boxes, moved some of the Deckhand’s junk to his (small) walk-in wardrobe and evicted the dust bunnies that had been having a good old rave under my bed. It’s great having a bed you can store things under, though the obvious downside is that dust bunnies set up house there. I’ve also cleaned the Deckhand's cabin, and the bathroom, and even washed the kitchen floor. I’m not bored, just at a loose end and I'm cleaning house early morning or late evening whilst it’s cool enough.

We’re due rain Friday, and I for one hope it materialises though I don’t want it to hang around too long. Sunshine is nice; it dries the laundry and ripens the blueberries – we’ve had some berries already and even a couple of raspberries, though the rain is good too, for the plants and to freshen things up again. Hoping for a good mix of both. If I was in charge, it would be sunny during the day, with gentle rain overnight. Nothing like the sound of gentle rain to soothe me to sleep…

Enjoy what’s left of the week, stay safe and sane ;)