We’re currently in Spain, waiting for the house to be finished, with no real kitchen— just an under-counter fridge and a cronky old electric cooktop. We’ve been eating out Spanish style with a large late lunch and that holds us for the day.
Well this afternoon I saw that the mayor of Madrid had virtually shut down the city to contain COVID-19. The thought crossed my mind that similar measures were most likely coming our way. Not 5 minutes later, I saw an alert announcing that restaurants and bars in the Valencian province where we are, were to close at midnight tonight for a minimum of two weeks. Yikes! And here we are living like we have no cares in the world. And WITH NOTHING TO EAT because WE HAVE NO REAL KITCHEN!!!
Well, it was getting late, so I shooed Theo to the car to peel out to the Mercadona to join in the mayhem that has been sweeping the northern hemisphere. And wow. Walked in and the fruit and vegetable isles were empty. Every last limp celery and bruised apple was gone. Amazing. And so we wandered around the store in search of ‘dry goods’ we could nibble on in the coming weeks. Without a freezer, we weren’t able to buy meat or anything in bulk. We were laughing at our funny on-the-fly menu planning, which included canned tuna, pasta, jalapeño olives (yum!), crackers, cartons of soup, packaged meat & cheese for sandwiches, nuts, some oh-so-important cava for me, and the rest of the cart was filled with red wine. At least if we have to quarantine ourselves, we can get happy!!! And toilet paper? Forget about it!
Do you have a funny story from the panic?
Here in Vence, the shelves are still full. We went out this morning to stock up a little and although crowds waiting for LeClerc to open at 8:30 the store was very well stocked and people were not stockpiling so still lots of toilet paper on the shelves. Must say, we also ensured lots of champagne and red wine in our cave to tide us over.
Keep safe.
For the most part, it feels still pretty normal here in San Jose, California. However, there are a few things that have changed, however. The traffic is much lighter than usual as most businesses have asked their employees to work from home. And, as you found, Cindy, grocery shopping is a bit challenging. The lines at my local Safeway store were out the door this morning. Shelves were bare – canned goods, toilet paper, sanitizer gel, and wipes all gone.
Have to love the newest catchphrase coming out of this pandemic — “social distancing” – keeping out of public venues with large groups and at least 6 feet apart from persons. The biggest impact from that dictum is the closing of all sporting and entertainment venues including movie theaters. What to do with all this time? I plan to watch loads of Netflix and Amazon Prime, walk more, and (gasp) read a few books.
Hi Cindy, in Central Portugal (country side) some shops allow only a small group of people in. When a person goes out, another one can come in. No shortage so far, but the government told us today, that the peak of the infections is expected END OF APRIL!! They just closed the boarder to Spain. Schools are closed, restaurants are likely to be closed as well. Our daughter is in Torino, our son in Oslo. Both countries have closed their boarders and airports. We need to be very patient!! Luckily we are not in UK, where the politicians are making a very big mistake by not taking necessary measures now to limit the damage. Stay safe!!! P