Had my first experience of queuing to get into Tesco. Not sure what day they started but it could have been today. There were what looked like “Big Bosses” looking at the queuing system outside and how the staff were managing it. Anyone with experience of retail management can spot the big bosses by the way the store management are fawning over them.

It seemed like a long time in the queue though it wasn’t really that long. Maybe 20 minutes. It was more bearable when you were in the bit of the queue that was in direct sun. The part that was in shadow was bloody freezing! When we got to the front of the queue we had to wait for 2 people to come out before we were allowed in. It seemed to be working well. Plenty of space inside to keep some distance between you are other shoppers. Two metres at all times isn’t practical in the more narrow aisles.

There was one woman in particular who really didn’t want anyone anywhere near her. We always seemed to be in the same aisle. In a narrow aisle she was getting very irritated that Sue was not getting out of her way. Sue is often oblivious to other people in stores. She looked like she was moving away from the shelves that she was looking at. This other woman sighed heavily and started to move forward but Sue stopped and quickly moved back as if she had changed her mind about one of the products. I actually thought the other woman was going to flip out. Sue slowly moved around her to come towards where I had parked our trolley. I was going to explain to her that she had “done it again” but I saw the sly smile on her face. She knew exactly what she was doing! “Wait until she needs our help at the hospital. She’ll be happy I’m there then.”

She had picked up an extra shift at the hospital yesterday. I didn’t really want her to do any extra shifts but she said her team were short and she needed to go in. There were something like 89 shifts uncovered at the hospital yesterday. It was worse today. When I picked her up from work I mentioned that there was supposed to be a national signal to NHS workers at 8pm with people clapping and making noise to show their gratitude. She didn’t think the people on our street would be bothered with that. As the time reached 8pm I was upstairs going from one window to another. We live on a corner so have a good view in all directions. It looked like no one was going to come out. Then it started. Just a few claps at first but it quickly grew. I could only actually see 1 person on their doorstep but most must have been in their back gardens. I ran downstairs and pushed Sue out into our garden so she could listen. She seemed quite chuffed that so many people had taken a couple of minutes to join in.

The Government announced help for self employed workers. Overall what they are doing is fair to a lot of people although there seems to be a significant number who it will not help. People who have not been self employed for a year are not included and any posting profits of over 50K a year are also getting nothing. Even those who ARE entitled to the support won’t get anything until June! The Government’s response to those people is that they should go to Universal Credit or use the money that they saved for July’s tax payment. The tax payments are deferred until January but I think anyone short of cash would have been using that money already to put food on the table.

Personally I make a bit from sales of the trading guide and also the subscriptions for the trading tips emails so I will get support. As I have already mentioned in the diary I have applied for Universal Credit. That will take some of the pressure off my savings. Obviously my income is badly affected but I know I am in a better position than many others. There will be a lot of self employed workers under a lot of financial stress in the next few months.

People generally are following the rules of the lockdown. Having said that as I write this my neighbours look like they are planning a family party. Not everyone who just went into their house actually lives there. There will always be people who think the rules don’t apply to them.

Our daughter suffers badly with Asthma. She tried to get a home delivery slot for their food shop but there was nothing available for weeks. About half of our trolley at Tesco’s was for them and the kids. We took it over there and left it on the doorstep. I’m not sure the grandkids would have understood that they couldn’t at least hug us and would have been upset. Its best that they didn’t know we had been there. Not sure how Michelle will explain the food fairy delivery though.

Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock have both tested positive for CoronaVirus. I think most of us will get it at some stage. I hope you and your families are coping and healthy. We haven’t been on lock down for long and that may prove to be a challenge for some in the coming weeks.

Stay safe.

 

Quiet day. I had my second phone appointment for Universal Credit. It was to advise me about working when self employed during the CoronaVirus. Once I explained that once the tennis tours start up again I will be back in business and so didn’t need advice on finding a job.

You have to feel for all those who left it later than I did to apply or whose jobs have only just shut down or ended. I spent a lot of time on hold when trying to get through on the phones. Probably something like 10 hours in total but that is nothing compared to the queues now. People are finding themselves in queues of well over 100,000 and I’m sure I saw a screenshot of over 200,000. I’m not sure if that was for the Universal Credit line or for the ID verification services but both have gone into meltdown. The stress must be intense.

Apparently you can now request the first appointment via your Universal Credit account page. I had asked if that was possible when I was applying but never had a response.

Self employed people will find out on Thursday what payments they can expect to receive.

Last night I was very impressed to see everyone staying in round here. It felt like people were really starting to take the soft lockdown seriously. To be fair it seems to be a smallish minority who think they can ignore instructions. Someone was moving house from one end of the street to the other this afternoon. A group of their mates were carrying their stuff between the 2 houses. The local drug dealer (well one of them) was still working. I can just see one of the designated drop off points from my desk. At least he won’t have the stress of applying for Universal Credit.

I hadn’t been in the Skype room for a few days so went in there this morning. There hadn’t been much activity. I asked how everyone was doing and quite a few responded and there was some general chat about things in general and obviously about the CoronaVirus. A bit of social interaction was nice even if it was on line.It’s only been 2 days of lockdown! God help us after 2 months or more.

I’ll be taking the dogs out later. Hopefully it will be quiet again but if not I’ll dig out the body cam. Might be an interesting addition to the diary! Although when I have worn it for dog walks in the past sod all ever happened. Either that or if something DID happen it was too far away for the body cam to pick up.

That was about it for today other than a few tweaks to the websites. I’ll get back to the videos tomorrow.

Stay safe.