We are coming to the end of the second week of our London lockdown. Tomorrow’s Sunday church service will be the third to be presented online in its 200 year history, and there will be many more to come in the months ahead.
Very early on and even before the lockdown we had put in place a daily plan, which is that we would stick to our normal routine despite having to work from home. As soon as we returned from our Pangkor Laut holiday in mid-February we worked from home and avoided all unnecessary outside meetings, waking each day at 6.45 am. When the Prime Minister made his lockdown announcement we were mentally prepared for it.
What I was not prepared for was the impossibility of getting an order in from our regular online food providers. Social distancing means we should limit even trips to the supermarket. It is fine for the government to say Stay At Home but overnight everyone is wanting their groceries to be home delivered, and the online supermarkets are not prepared for this massive surge in demand.
One of the things I value most is time so it would matter to me if I had to wait two hours to get into a certain website, or to physically queue an hour to enter a supermarket. So I had to think of the city version of a day’s hunting, fishing and shooting to feed the family.
Thankfully, with some careful thought and early mornings, we have managed to get some really choice vegetables, bread, cake and groceries from the shops within walking distance of our house. Location, location, location? In this situation it is everything: I always said I am a city girl and I have never been more thankful for that then now.
Some of our local heroes are the Swiss Cottage Farmers’ Market where half the stalls still come in on Wednesday, the bakeries in England’s Lane, Gail’s and the Goldhurst Terrace Three (Natural Natural Japanese grocery shop, Lanka Japanese-French patisserie and SK Mart Korean grocery shop). Farmdrop was alright for meat until they could not cope so this week I have an order with the Ginger Pig which the lovely Sam says he will try his best to fulfill. Sure, I miss walking along the aisles of Waitrose but I hear what the government, the doctors, the WHO and the world are saying: stay home to stay safe to save lives.
Arriving early at the Swiss Cottage Farmers’ Market
Happiness is a loaf of fresh bread. Grain at 36 England’s Lane, London NW3
Weekend treat of St Honore, Rum Baba, Raspberry Passionfruit Tart and Pear and Almond Tart. Lanka Patisserie at 9 Goldhurst Terrace, London NW6
After dinner this evening I said that we need a post-lockdown party. By that time it would be June. June is a great month because we celebrate three birthdays and Father’s Day, and we are the same four people in lockdown together. We see each other for lunch and dinner every day, work together, share jokes together, complete puzzles together, watch Disney’s Toy Story together. I am going to have a big party, you can count on it.