Panic Shopping

Published on by ortensia

The rumours that were circulating for a few days had been confirmed on Thursday. The Taoiseach spoke to the Nation to announce the closure of the school, to encourage to work from home wherever possible and to ban mass gatherings.
Simple words that had indeed the power to create immediate panic and spread the fear; but while Americans are afraid that the virus will develop in a spree of diarrhoea, Irish are scared of an other famine.
Yes because this is the only explanation to make sense of the assault to the supermarkets.
Myself and daughter number two, who very naively went to the supermarket just for bread and milk as we would have normally done, were presented with an apocalyptic scenery. Empty shelves and women of all ages fighting for the lats trolley left. And when I say “fighting”, I don’t mean it metaphorically.😬
“There can be only one”, like in Highlander. And that one would then frantically running from aisle to aisle wielding its trolley, (instead of its swords), and filling it with anything edible or that said “antibacterial” on the label.
Most of those who survived the war of the supermarkets, that very same evening, went out to have a damn good pint all squeezed up in a crowded pub, inhaling and spreading potential viruses. But at that point, it was not a big deal, because at home, they had plenty of sanitizers to wash their hands and enough food to be quarantined for years.

Once daughter two and I made it out of the supermarket and in one peace, probably thanks to the fact that we didnt even look remotely at the trolleys, we realized that before the pub and after the supermarket, all the people drove home to store their shopping. The town Main Street was all stuck, and the many traffic lights didn’t help. Eventually, we reached the last one, before daughter number one ‘s school. The poor pet was waiting for nearly half an hour by now. I rung her to say we were nearly there, and while on the phone, two women crossing the road from the opposite direction caught my attention. Their walk was confident, and they looked like they were aiming at my car. I gave them a better look in case it was someone I knew, but it wasn’t. Maybe I didnt realized it but I took last carton of milk and they saw me and now they want it. I instinctively checked for the car doors to be locked.
Relief arrived when I see them stop by the car in front of me.
They were friends of the lady occupant and they start chatting, and chatting, and chatting, even after the traffic light became green, and so it turned back red and we were still there.
My first reaction was to beep the horn and swear to the fecking woman😡, but then I preferred to not attract attention. After all, my Italian accent is hard to disguise, and all the cases of Kodiv19 we have in Ireland are related to Italy; definitely better to keep a low profile. I asked daughter number two to cover her ears, and so I only sworn without beeping.
When the traffic light went green again, I sprinted and overtook the car in front me, that didn’t even dreamt to move. I wonder what the we’re chatting about🤔,obviously something extremely juicy!
Thirty-two minutes later, we reached daughter number one’s school.

And that was only Thursday the 12th……. That night I barely slept thinking what could have happened the following day: Friday the 13th.😱
Also, I could not ignore the thought that maybe I was too relaxed. I should perhaps go to panic shopping too.
And so I did: 5 boxes of tiles, adhesive, grout, trim, paint, brushes and to not look selfish and not enough motherly one big pack of nappies for Clara.

Stay safe my friends and next post you ‘ll find out more.

https://www.sabinagabriellicarraraauthor.com/

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29 thoughts on “Panic Shopping”

  4. We went shopping to buy regular things on our list, knowing there would be no toilet paper. I was totally shocked that there were no raisins on the shelf! Do other Americans know something that I don’t know????

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      1. LOL! I could swap liquid hand soap. We found GALLONS of it in our basement before we moved. John did all the shopping at Costco and must have bought a huge container of it every time it was on sale. We’ve been in this house five years, and I think there are at least three huge bottles left. Today I should refill the dispensers at all the sinks, since we’ll be washing our hands more thoroughly.

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  5. This single man, in his small villa hasn’t done any shopping this week…. I suppose I’ve enough to get me by for the next couple of weeks( like most of us,I do have food in our cupboards ??)….. and then I’ll go and and buy a few supplies to live on …..and I’ll sit under my verandah…. and wait for next years flowers to bloom…..
    .
    The Outlook

    Dawn reveals a brilliant red plume
    The Day Lily’s last bloom
    Slowly opening to a predicted gloom
    Casting a final shadow of colour in my room
    In life I know nature’s not the carrier of doom
    And next year they’ll be more flowers from her womb

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    1. It’s all over world . We hoard things we don’t need and leave those who might really do without it. I hope at end of this ordeal we ll find ourself less selfish and more respectful of the world

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    1. And you Lisa. Here I think first panic had gone and shops had restocked nearly everything but if they will go for a proper shut down, as I hope at this stage, there will be an other assault.
      In Italy they had limit the amount of things you can buy so that one single person wouldn’t leave the market with 10 pack of pasta leaving other with none. And I think do we serious need the police to tell us to behave responsibly ? Obviously yes🤦🏼‍♀️

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  9. Same over here in good ole Louisiana. Lucky I always buy groceries in anticipation of running out of the next item. But there is no bread or milk at our stores. But there is some in the freezer, YaY! Now Trump and the Republicans are buying our vote for next fall. Word is that each adult in the U.S. is going to get one thousand in cash !!! I’ll believe it when it is in my pocket. I am holed up in the household, good thing I got a lot of coffee 🤪😋
    Keep the faith, and Oh! Happy St. Patrick’s Day !!!!!

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    1. I know it looks like this virus had split population in two taking the best or the worst out of people. Here it looks like the panic shopping phase had faded but some people still didn’t get the gravity of the situation and keep gathering in groups too close.

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