Day 87 - Convenience Store

 CONVENIENCE STORE

Prompt - Convenience Store : Write about an experience you've had at a gas station or convenience store.

"Grandad, what did you do in the terrible shortages of 2020?"

"The most dangerous job of them all laddie - tail gunner on an Andrex lorry."

A year ago we experienced shortages in the shops.  Remember that?  Not brexshit induced, as we feared, but a strange pnic brought on by the rapidly unfolding pandemic scenario.  Suddenly it was hard to find pasta in the shops.  Tinned tomatoes, passata, tomato puree all vanished.  The basics needed for quick cheap meals.  But the scariest one, the one that had everyone talking, was toilet paper.  Not just in the UK, but in many other countries too.

Why toilet paper?  Nobody seemed to know the answer, other than once it started in one place it spurted everywhere like an attack of the runs.   Bog roll was now the most valuable currency of the retail world.

We weren't too badly placed, having bought a twelve pack shortly before the runs started hitting.  And I refused to be drawn into the panic buying, knowing that if I got some it might cause problems for a family that needed it more.  But the supply was getting lower, maybe down to around half a dozen rolls remaining in the flat.  Nowhere near urgent, when there are only the two of us here.  Still, it might be best to be prepared to grab some if I saw it.

So whenever I went into a supermarket the paper goods aisle was always scoured, and every time the result was the same.  Rows of empty shelves.  Signs restricting people in their number of purchases had little effect.  Asda.  Sainsbury.  Tesco.  Smaller convenience stores.  This went on for a few days, and the home stock got that little bit smaller.

Then I was in Lidl, and did my usual scan of the soft and absorbent section.  And there they were.  Four packets.  Four big packets, sitting on an otherwise bare pilot, surrounded by nothingness.  From the other end of the aisle a woman was approaching, with clear intent.  There was a man a couple of paces behind her.  I was nearest, but, all the same, I swear there was an ever so slight, involuntary, increase in pace on my part.  And hers.  And his.  

I got there first.  I bent down to pick up one of the packs.  And handed it to the woman with a smile.  She smiled back.  Bent again, picked up one for myself, and held it tight, watching out for... what was I watching out for?  It was  sixteen pack, more than we'd usually get, lower quality than we'd usually get.  But it was coming home with me, and we were set up for the duration.

On the way back, walking the mile and a bit back to the flat, I kept my purchase close, feeling conspicuous, feeling like the might hunter returning in triumph, and way of strangers.  I hadn't heard about anyone being mugged for loo roll, but you never know...