Today the Shelves are Empty

“London has run out of food…” is what I thought to myself yesterday afternoon as I stood in Sainsbury’s and stared blankly at the completely stripped-down aisles. I covered my mouth with my hand as a pure reflex of the horror I experienced at the fact that there wasn’t a SINGLE consumable left by 4pm; “It’s madness…” I heard behind my shoulder, in a calamitous tone of despair as the Security Guard looked at me and shook his head.

In a 1.5 hour span at the end of my workday, I ran to 9 different shops in in my area; 2 Sainsbury’s, 1 Co-op, 1 Tesco, 1 Waitrose, 1 Planet Organic, 1 Corner shop, 1 Home Store and even 1 Tiger as sometimes they sell dried fruit and packed spices. Suffice to say – there were no fruits and no vegetables. There was no bread, milk or butter either. No cheese, no eggs, no yogurt. No jars or cans of ANY sort, no pasta and no rice. No flour, no oil, no coffee, no spices - no salt even.

Any cleaning chemicals, wipes, tissues, and what now seems to be more valuable than gold – toilet roll, had been devoured also. 

The only items left - alcohol, ice-cream and Doritos.

I scavenged some remains; 2 loose bananas here, a cucumber there, a bag of salad, some other leftovers and toiler roll marked up to ￡3.50 – a piece. When I got home, I had about 3 bags which were only half-full, but my banking app said I’d spent nearly ￡100. Easy to achieve considering a local corner shop was the only place with fresh produce, bread and others, where I left ￡52.24 in total.

Every store I went to, I asked the staff “How are you doing? Holding-up? Are you OK?”. The look of relief that for the first time that day, someone was coming to them with concern and not anger – it destroyed me. There were only two staff members at one of the Chain Stores - 1 at the register and 1 to re-shelf, who were on their own, without security, for a 12-hour shift. They were exhausted. People had been rude; people had been violent. They were hungry, stressed and had at that point taken no breaks – they still had 4 hours to go. They didn’t have time to shop neither before nor after work, nor did time matter because there was NO food, and their families were being affected worse that everyone else by this.

Yet, they were kind and greeted me with a smile. Each single one, in each single shop - the cashiers, the stock suppliers, the security. I apologized for how they’d been treated and wished them health, leaving them with a smile too, which I can only presume wasn’t specific to me but to the fact that someone showed them compassion, respect and looked at them as an equal human being.

I was able to do this run because I am in a privileged position where I can WFH. My sister, whom I share accommodation with, is not. She is a Clinic Manager who works 10-14 hours a day, seeing 30-40 patients each time. Working with the NHS, neither she, nor the doctors and nurses she works with, can “isolate”, much less do shopping at any preferred hour of the day. What would she do if I was not here? What would the other doctors do had we not shared what I foraged yesterday with them? What about their families? Their children? Their parents, who the are most susceptible to this disease?

I see pictures and videos online of paramedics, of nurses, of police officers - going to the shop at night, after 12/24/48hr shifts and they break into tears, because there is nothing anywhere. Shameful and tragic.

All of the people who are holding us up right now – the pharmacists, the medical staff, the fire brigades, the police, the garbage collectors, the post men, the retail staff, the cleaners and hygienists, the drivers, the farmers, the suppliers – each single one deserves the same “looking after”, if not even more – as the one they provide to the community themselves. 

We ALL need to take responsibility for ourselves and others at this difficult time. Be kind, be compassionate and be considerate. If you can afford it – be generous too. But above all – be human. Be a person with a mind & a soul and put yourselves in the shoes of others. Take only what you need and be prepared to share what you have. Don’t hoard, don’t steal and don’t fight.

This is not a time to be divided by anger and panic. It is a time for communities to gather, for all of us to protect each other in order to stay safe and get well – together.

Most importantly - urge others to do the same and as Bulgaria’s national motto stands "Unity makes strength".

N.B. Please keep thinking of those who are less fortunate and especially the homeless, look up your local food banks and support them in any way you can - https://www.trusselltrust.org/coronavirus-food-banks/