fabindia wrote: ↑23 Dec 2020, 14:32
We've seen on the news what looks like chaos back in UK. Brexit uncertainty and the spread of a new strain of Covid looks to be having a big impact on food supplies from Europe.
The chaos is actually in Dover and the M25 when France closed its borders without notice soon after news of the new Covid strain was announced, and all the lorries that would have been crossing the channel were stopped and had to be parked up. Brexit uncertainty is something else entirely but probably accounted for the extra traffic to and from Europe to stock up in case of problems should there be no deal and the introduction of tariffs. As for food shortages - only the fresh produce unavailable in the UK were likely to be hit and there should be plenty of food.
Gwenoakes wrote: ↑23 Dec 2020, 16:32
and to be honest there were a lot of people around
... it's always busy the days before Christmas with people doing their main food shop then (one of the reasons why I always try to get as much done in the weeks before so that I can avoid it!) Where plans have been changed (such as being moved into Tier 4 and no longer allowed to have indoor visits), those people who were supposed to be going away have probably had to buy stuff in at the last minute.
I didn't see any panic buying in my local supermarket - busy as expected for this time of year but not how I remember when I used to take my mother for the big Christmas supermarket shopping in the 1990s (I used to be in a Christmas savings club so that I could also stock up her cupboards with basics and things she wouldn't normally treat herself to) I confess that I did buy a big pack of toilet rolls when I probably didn't need to but otherwise, my cupboards were already stocked up as part of my normal Christmas and New Year plans to stay at home and avoid the shops as much as possible (the Boxing Day sales are unlikely to go ahead but old habits die hard - in some ways, probably even more reason to avoid going out and shopping after everyone have been socially mixing on Christmas day!)