I wrote a blog post last week (you're welcome to republish it, or strip it for parts) for people who preferred to stay at home but who didn't fall into the Priority List on supermarkets. Basically people who want deliveries but will struggle to get them.
Deliveroo and UberEats don't just deliver cooked takeaway meals, they will also bring groceries from convenience stores and Deliveroo in particular will bring a range of groceries from Co-op and M&S. There are also lots of local shops offering home deliveries, plenty of food box schemes from local or national suppliers and even the supermarkets themselves are now offering additional food boxes over and above their regular 'pick your own trolley contents' deliveries. With these boxes you don't get to choose the contents but you can more easily get hold of one as they're not subject to the same delivery slot restrictions.
Supermarket slots and Deliveroo type things are even rarer in rural areas and the solutions there have included pubs opening up their spaces to sell groceries (some do deliveries), and other local delivery options.
In all cases the very vulnerable can register with the Government to get a free food box delivered, and local Covid Mutual Aid groups are offering additional support in terms of fetching shopping (and prescriptions). All info in this post.
I've been keeping an eye though on supermarket delivery slots and their appearance / disappearance from the point of view of someone living in London (SE3, Blackheath). Since I've been testing them I've never experienced a point where I wouldn't have been able to get a slot with at least one supermarket. Below is the date and time I tested them and what was available for each supermarket.
Friday 22 May - Midday
Asda - no
Iceland - slots available early evening and late evening on Sat 23rd
Morrisons - no
Ocado - can't get on website
Sainsbury's - no
Waitrose - no
Tesco - several evening slots on Fri and Sat, afternoon and evening slots on Sun
Friday 22 May - 7.30pm
Asda - no
Iceland - several slots for Sun 24th and Mon 25th
Morrisons - no
Ocado - can't get on website
Sainsbury's - several on Mon 25th May
Tesco - evening slots on Sat 30th and Sun 31st
Waitrose - no
Saturday 23 May - 9.30pm
Asda - no
Iceland - several slots for Sunday
Morrisons - no
Ocado - can't get on website
Sainsbury's - no
Tesco - no
Waitrose - no
Sunday 24 May - 11.30am
Asda - no
Co-op - several available (M, T, W, Th)
Iceland - several on Monday 25th and Tuesday 26th available
Morrisons - no
Ocado - can't get on website
Sainsbury's - Tuesdays and Wednesdays, limited time in morning / evening
Tesco - Friday morning, Sun 31st
Waitrose - no
Sunday 24 May - 3pm
Asda - no
Co-op - several available (M, T, W, Th)
Iceland - several on Mon 25th and Tue 26th
Morrisons - no
Ocado - can't get on website
Sainsbury's - one on Tuesday
Tesco - no
Waitrose - no
Monday 25 May - 3pm
Asda - no
Co-op - Mon evening and all day Tue - Friday
Iceland - plenty Tues and Wed, none rest of week
Morrisons - no
Ocado - can't get on website
Sainsbury's - several for Tuesday, couple for Wednesday
Tesco - several for 11, 12, 13 and 14 June
Waitrose - no
Thu 28 May - 1am
Asda - Thu 11 Jun
Co-op - Thu - Mon
Iceland - Thu
Morrisons - no
Ocado - can't get on website
Sainsbury's - Fri morn and Sun afternoon
Tesco - no
Waitrose - Tue 2nd June 10-11am
Sat 30 May - 1am
Asda - Sat 13 June afternoon
Co-op - plenty until Wed 3 June
Iceland - Sunday 31 May - several
Morrisons - no
Ocado - can't get on website
Sainsbury's - 31 May and 2 June
Tesco - no
Waitrose - no
Sunday 31 May - 13:30
Asda - lots on Sun 14th June
Co-op - plenty of slots until Thur 4 June
Iceland - Monday 1st June - several, all day 2nd June
Morrisons - no
Ocado - can't get on website
Sainsbury's - a few on Mon 1st June and Wed 3 June
Tesco - no
Waitrose - no
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Sunday, 31 May 2020
Saturday, 30 May 2020
Some thoughts on not moving on - Dominic Cummings
I'm adding my annoyance about Dominic Cummings' recent actions to the expanding pile of irritation.
Whether or not he may have broken the law feels secondary to the glib nonsense being emitted from him and the Government about journeys, eyesight tests, spurious contributions to The Spectator and the retconning of his blogpost about coronaviruses.
Ordinarily we might chalk this up to those in power seemingly being able to get away with stuff - under more cheering circumstances parts of this might even have been amusing.
Obeying laws and regulations don't generally come at much of a personal cost but following the Government's coronavirus guidelines has hurt people as well as protected them and people have had to make distressing sacrifices. It's meant people staying away from vulnerable loved ones, people dying alone in hospital or in care homes and sparse funerals being shared online.
Mr Cummings' reading of the guidelines has resulted in lengthy car drives to see his family, visits to scenic spots and tortured explanations after the fact. Agasint the backdrop of everyone else following the necessary guidelines his actions seem perverse.
Had Mr Cummings apologised for the breach and offered his resignation Mr Johnson could still have rejected it, taking the opportunity to clarify that the rules are in place for everyone and saying that no further action would be taken in this instance. I think that would have been imperfect but satisfactory and would have 'drawn a line under it'. The current response tells us, against the evidence of our own senses, that the rules were followed correctly and that reasonable people can make their own judgement on them (a recipe for disaster). What a confusing mess.
This has felt like a slap in the face. We don't like being laughed at and it's troubling that we seem to be being gaslit by official Government responses.
Of course other events will gradually overtake this and everyone will move on whether or not they want to. If people wonder if the UK Government is handling the coronavirus crisis well they might be tempted to view this saga in a different light. Let's hope the poor decision-making and crisis-handling of the Dominic Cummings' situation isn't a proxy marker for how the Government handles other crises.
Whether or not he may have broken the law feels secondary to the glib nonsense being emitted from him and the Government about journeys, eyesight tests, spurious contributions to The Spectator and the retconning of his blogpost about coronaviruses.
Ordinarily we might chalk this up to those in power seemingly being able to get away with stuff - under more cheering circumstances parts of this might even have been amusing.
Obeying laws and regulations don't generally come at much of a personal cost but following the Government's coronavirus guidelines has hurt people as well as protected them and people have had to make distressing sacrifices. It's meant people staying away from vulnerable loved ones, people dying alone in hospital or in care homes and sparse funerals being shared online.
Mr Cummings' reading of the guidelines has resulted in lengthy car drives to see his family, visits to scenic spots and tortured explanations after the fact. Agasint the backdrop of everyone else following the necessary guidelines his actions seem perverse.
Had Mr Cummings apologised for the breach and offered his resignation Mr Johnson could still have rejected it, taking the opportunity to clarify that the rules are in place for everyone and saying that no further action would be taken in this instance. I think that would have been imperfect but satisfactory and would have 'drawn a line under it'. The current response tells us, against the evidence of our own senses, that the rules were followed correctly and that reasonable people can make their own judgement on them (a recipe for disaster). What a confusing mess.
This has felt like a slap in the face. We don't like being laughed at and it's troubling that we seem to be being gaslit by official Government responses.
Of course other events will gradually overtake this and everyone will move on whether or not they want to. If people wonder if the UK Government is handling the coronavirus crisis well they might be tempted to view this saga in a different light. Let's hope the poor decision-making and crisis-handling of the Dominic Cummings' situation isn't a proxy marker for how the Government handles other crises.