I stopped by my local No-Frills this morning to pick up a few groceries. Although it was early, the joint was jumping. I suppose a lot of people decided to stock up on supplies after WHO declared the Covid-19 virus to be a pandemic.
Nobody was buying toilet paper today. That’s already been sold out. One guy had about a dozen bottles of V8 in his cart, more V8 than I’ve consumed in my lifetime. People had stacks of canned food, soups, fish and so on, bags of beans and rice and pasta. Some people must think our water supply will somehow become compromised by the virus because several people had filled their carts with 5-gallon containers of water.
Each cashier had 7 or 8 people lined up, most with full carts. It took a really long time to pay and get out. Lots of people are concerned and are preparing to stay holed up for a couple weeks or longer. I didn’t stop at the liquor store, but my guess is they were doing a brisk business too. Strange times.
We keep a fairly fully-stocked pantry at home and we have plenty of toilet paper. For now I’ll just continue to do my regular shopping for fresh foods.
There was a positive side to this morning’s shopping trip – whole chickens were on special, $5-$7 for a chicken. And cantaloupes were $0.88 each.
27th Street 
Was thinking of doing our monthly Costco run and when we drove by the parking lot was so full we decided to keep driving. Went to Loblaws in Bowmanville instead. No bananas, no potatoes, no toilet paper …. this is utter madness. We aren’t being out under house arrest people. Stores will still be open tomorrow and next week. Just keep washing your hands and limit contact in large crowded places like every grocery store this week.
Was thinking of doing our monthly Costco run and when we drove by the parking lot was so full we decided to keep driving. Went to Loblaws in Bowmanville instead. No bananas, no potatoes, no toilet paper …. this is utter madness. We aren’t being out under house arrest people. Stores will still be open tomorrow and next week. Just keep washing your hands and limit contact in large crowded places like every grocery store this week.
This nonsense is going on here too. The toilet paper thing is kind of bizarre. We were out anyway and the Engineer had remarked it was time to go by the Costco wholesaler where I always buy two 46-roll cases so that I don’t have to go back in there for a while. They had a two case limit posted. And the Trader Joe’s chain where I do the weekly shopping was a madhouse at eleven in the morning. Upside, my hermit lifestyle is now validated.