Scenes from one supermarket where good manners did prevail
SIR – We recently took advantage of the early-morning “oldies shopping hour” at Sainsbury’s. Our experience was quite different from what others have reported. We were welcomed by helpful staff and served by friendly check-out assistants. There were lots of shoppers but British reserve and politeness prevailed.
We apologised for getting in each other’s way and most people smiled – at least, the ones without face masks did. We were home eating breakfast by 8am. Elizabeth Lyne
Whitchurch, Hampshire
SIR – I tried to make use of Tesco’s “silver hour”.
When I arrived at the starting time, 9am, the store had been open for three hours, the car park was nearly full and people were pouring out with laden trollies. There was no attempt to enforce an age limit, and the crowds rivalled those on Christmas Eve.
By 10am the queue for the checkouts stretched more than half way around the store. What is the point of this measure if nobody is enforcing it? Eric Crook
Writtle, Essex
SIR – By limiting the amount of each item we are able to purchase, the supermarkets are actually putting my husband and I at risk.
We had planned to shop once a week, but now we will have to go out every two days to get milk. We are both in the high-risk category. Panic is taking over from common sense. Jennifer Howells
Shrewsbury
SIR – With chaos and shortages in our major supermarkets, and long delays in their delivery services, I suggest that the small shopkeepers in towns across the country should form their own joint delivery system.
Those of us who are self-isolating would be only too happy to phone the suppliers we have used for years, give them an order using a credit card, and have it brought to our front door. I’m sure this would also help to keep such businesses going. RA Collings
Presteigne, Radnorshire
SIR – My wife and I are both in our 70s and have received many offers of help from our very kind and thoughtful neighbours. For the first time in our lives we realised that we were perceived as old and vulnerable. Ken Culley
Marlborough, Wiltshire
SIR – As a diabetic septuagenarian, I am self-isolating with my wife.
I have been looking for new activities to occupy me, and have found one that seems to fit the bill. I have decided to grow a beard.
It has the advantage of requiring no effort at all, but it does leave a threeminute shaving gap in my day, which I will need to fill. Getting up later has been mooted. Tim Hadland
Northampton