'My mother, in her 80s, is being guarded like a rare Fabergé egg'

The Guardian ^ | March 29 2020 | Grace Dent

[Winniesboy]

Each time I try to amend the grocery order, the website falls over, punch-drunk and exhausted. For a few terrifying minutes, it flounders. Then it stands up again and refreshes...

When the madness passes, which it will, because all things do, I hope we remember how the supermarket staff really served us. It’s ironic how many of us slagged off these places for decades, told the masses to avoid them. Let’s all eat risottos of foraged acorns made with small-batch artisan butter from our bi-weekly farmers’ market! And then this happened, and the Aldi car park is full of Audis jam-packed with Super Noodles... I hope we remember the selfless hard work of the till workers and midnight shelf-stackers, the people on self-service checkouts who sort our unexplained item in the baggage area problems without maintaining a safe distance. Forever touching the screens we’ve just touched, keeping the queues moving and, by default, breathing in our germs. As shoppers ransacked the pasta and fought over UHT, they had no time to plan for their own families or to watch rolling news or to think too hard if their sweat was the mark of hard work or a fever.

I would hug, if I could, the team at my Sainsbury’s Local, who open at dawn every day, always jolly, with the shelves restocked with small amounts of almost all vital items. I’m especially indebted to the drivers whom I’m trusting to get to my mother. They’re taking up the slack on what is now my biggest life problem. I’m trusting total strangers to feed her, not upset her, not frighten her, to keep their distance and to leave the boxes somewhere handy. And to explain to her why there are no rich teas. I wouldn’t call that job unskilled at all.

[Winniesboy]

This is an article by an English journalist, normally a restaurant critic, describing a situation which many are in - trying to make sure a distant elderly relative is properly fed during a lockdown. The opening paragraphs are full of very English cultural references: but if you can get through these (and I recommend reading the unexcerpted article at the link), the conclusion - a paean to the often despised shelf-stackers and delivery drivers who keep the system going - is pretty much universal, and is a very nice piece of writing.

[Red Badger]

an English journalist, normally a restaurant critic,

That in itself is an oxymoron..................

[Fai Mao]

This was a fun read.

[Ken H]

What, no Himalayan pink salt?

[RummyChick]

i didnt understand half of what she was talking about...like marrowfat peas, etc.

Today I learned Natto is high in k2 . I need to figure out how to get it for the 50k Vitamin D I am taking for 8 weeks.

But am I going to eat Natto?..UGH..no freaking way.

But Asians love it.

I am sure there are things the American eat that cause them to make the same face I would as I gagged up Natto

[cherry]

I worry about the young families getting enough to eat and drink and able to stay in their homes.....our future is with the young people.....

for me, I've always appreciated the people in stores, driving the trucks, working at the fast food places and all those others that many people dismiss.....they are are backbone...

[butlerweave]

My Mother she’s 86 had a fall a week ago Sunday and fractured her arm and is in the hospital ,they might send her home later this week and then someone will come in twice a day top help her ,this is the part we worry about

[miss marmelstein]

I would have preferred reading about “the jocund lunch at The Dorchester Grill.”

[Fai Mao]

“I worry about the young families getting enough to eat and drink and able to stay in their homes”

Me too

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Married at peas are to make “mushy peas”. And British staple.

[Viking2002]

So would be ‘a dentist’........

[RummyChick]

i had to laugh at your auto correct.

[Bigg Red]

::... full of very English cultural references: but if you can get through these....::

~~~~~~~
I positively love them!

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

So sorry. :( Hope she heals up soon!

Is she having occupational therapy and palliative care? Went thru a situation with my mom during the Holidays.

Just make sure they clean their hands before and after contact. They, usually, place sterile coverings on top of tables, etc. for their bags and equipment and discard before leaving.

Wish y’all the best.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

LMAO!!! I just saw that! The curse of phone posting w/o readers! 😁

[Bigg Red]

I enjoyed reading that. Thank you.

I did not enjoy seeing this part from the “Guardian” at the bottom in its appeal for donations:

Over the last three years, much of what the Guardian holds dear has been threatened – democracy, civility, truth. This US administration is establishing new norms of behaviour. Anger and cruelty disfigure public discourse and lying is commonplace. Truth is being chased away. But with your help we can continue to put it center stage.

[Menehune56]

What a splendid article, a real treat for the Anglophile. I discovered Grace Dent, the authoress and the Guardian's food critic, is quite an attractive lady too.

[nascarnation]

She’s on a tv show on Netflix “Very British Problems”
Quite enjoyable.