Shops & supermarkets under lockdown!

[OMR + MIN]

Hi JR the chinese shops are all closed. Sorry

[Johnrgby]

Hi JR the chinese shops are all closed. Sorry

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[Johnrgby]

Just returned from Mercadona, definitely more traffic about, no sign of the Guardia anywhere, called into the pharmacy in Caleta { the newer one } they have a stock of face masks if anyone is interested 90 Cents each, you need your medical card, you can buy one every two days, although the guy behind the counter says they will have o stock by Monday

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Friday's outing, mainly shopping for elderly/vulnerable friends. Approx 11.30am - 2.30pm.

Tindaya to Corralejo. More cars/vans on the road, no official vehicles until I reached Corralejo. 5 in queue at Brikogar in Villaverde, few in q at Fenimoy, didn't need anything. 10? in queue at HiperDino Villaverde. No sign of the military in Corralejo today which was quite nice, I find it a bit unnerving seeing them on the streets. More Policia Local on foot in the town centre than seen previously. Very little traffic down the High Street, few pedestrians with shopping bags, small queue at big Pharmacy but they had alcohol based hand sanitiser for sale  .
Big queue at Padilla Spar, didn't wait. Small queue at Fruit & Veg opposite Centro de Salud, good selection. Atlantic Insurance open, collected some docs. Big queue at Marcial Ferreteria, didn't need anything.

Up to Mercadona. No queue, sanitiser for hands, gloves, trolley as the new norm. Couldn't get: strawberries, soft fresh baked rolls, fresh baked chicken pie, bars of chocolate, cauliflower, vanilla ice cream, cigarette lighters, chilled coffee of choice. Fresh fruit and veg section good selection but very limited quantity, looked about to run out of most stuff. Fresh meat well stocked.

No queue at HiperDino Villaverde or Fenimoy as I went past on way home. 2 outside Brikogar.

  

  

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Today was just a quick trip to HiperDino in Villaverde at lunchtime.

Few clouds around as I left Tindaya, few looked a bit ominous. Some cars on road, no Policia or GC. Five ahead of me in Q, not bad, but, the heavens opened! There is a fairly large olive tree just near the entrance but social distancing meant standing under the outer branches which gave a little but not good protection, nobody wanted to give up and leave the queue    Three military vehicles went past while I was queueing, 2 trucks and a Humvee, heading north. The people already inside took ages to do their shopping, I waited 40 minutes for my turn to go in! Temperature test at the door, then gel and gloves. I know the staff are working under difficult conditions but most (not all) of them in this store are so miserable! Mind you the store is quite cramped so observing social distancing when inside is very difficult, it must play on their minds. There seem to be a lot of staff faces that I don't recognise as well, perhaps new recruits?

Was able to get everything I went in for, didn't notice any obvious gaps.

Made a new temp friend while queueing in the rain, and she was happy for her pic to be taken/shared!

  

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Tindaya to Corralejo and La Oliva today. 11.30am - 3.30pm (everything seems to be taking so long at the moment with all the queueing!)

No official cars/presence at all today anywhere on my trip, although the GC did patrol down to our local beach at 7am this morning.

First to Mercadona to pick up a couple of bits to drop down to a lady in the town. 3 in Q ahead of me, gel, gloves etc, no Q at checkout.

Then down into town to the bank. Parked in a backstreet and walked through to the High Street, hardly anyone around, no Q at ATM, no Q at nearby pharmacy.

Back to car and through backstreets to Vet. Few people in Q at Marcial ferreteria, few at Fruit and Veg, no Q at vet.

Back up to Mercadona, 5 or 6 in Q but moved very quickly, gel, gloves etc. Got nearly everything I hoped for including last tub of vanilla ice cream. No raspberries or strawberries, no pre baked pies. Much better selection of breads/rolls than last Friday. Fruit and veg in short supply although reasonable selection. Got self-raising flour for first time in weeks. Chocolate back on shelves   

Off to La Oliva pharmacy, 1 person ahead of me. Collected items for friend.

Back to Tindaya, dropped friends shopping off over garden gate, home and unpacked - best part of day gone!

  

  

  

[classic]

To be 'out' for nearly 4 hours .... sounds wonderful at the moment. I know you were only doing 'jobs' at it were, but at least it is some different surroundings. I have trouble trying to make my once a week trip to the supermarket last more than an hour!
Well done for helping your neighbours with the shopping -

[Ducks]

Some updates from this week's outings:

CALETA — SPAR, ATLANTICO

Very quiet in store when we visited (early AM). Good stock of most items except specific branded disinfectants, and they were also sold out of the particular handsoap we prefer. Otherwise everything we needed was available in decent quantities. Sanitation available at the door for hands, but nothing for carts/baskets. Iso Alcohol back in stock in limited quantities! If you are looking for it right now, Spar is the place, which was nice to see. Still no hand sanitiser gel, though. Spotted no Police or army the entire trip, which was a first since the beginning of the lockdown, I think!

CALETA — MERCADONA

Busier every week, but staff still making good efforts to keep sanitation procedures going. Absolutely hopeless social distancing from shoppers, though, many wearing nothing to cover their mouths and moving at a glacial place, just standing around blocking aisles and browsing products like there is no threat to public safety in enclosed spaces! Very irritating. Good stock of most items, especially meat and fresh produce (though selection has diminished, and they've removed the free-standing shelves for bananas and such from the middle fo the fruit and veg aisle). Chocolate supplies running low again. Staff doing their absolute best to be helpful. Police parked outside, which gives a bit of a weird feeling, but they weren't giving anyone any trouble, and nobody else was making any, either. 

CALETA — LIDL

Supplies slowly dwindling a bit. Very little available in terms of milk, for example. Prices very unpredictable— there are some biscuits we like which are available in all four shops we can access right now. Spar: 63c. Mercadona: 64c. Dino: 65c. Lidl: €1.60-something! Madness. Some meat is also much more expensive than Mercadona (chicken legs, for example), with no noticeable difference in quality. However, their sweet products are very nice, the store itself is very pleasant to shop in, and it's much less busy than Mercadona. 


Haven't needed to hit the Dino this week, but will update if I visit. 

Very glad to see that changes have been made to the ease of restrictions on children from next week; the last thing we need is kids running around the shops right now. I do worry about what will happen when the restrictions lift, generally. I know they're likely to advocate the continuation of social distancing once we're allowed out, but considering that people are doing the bare minimum in public spaces currently, when there is only a tiny fraction of people out at one time, it's going to be bedlam when the entire population is free to roam but expected to behave themselves. 

Still, very grateful to have access to multiple shops and to be able to stock the cupboards!

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Tindaya to Corralejo today. 11am - 12.30pm

As I left the village there was a GC car coming in - they have been driving through the village and down to the beach most days. No other official vehicles seen en route. A Policia Local car followed me down Corralejo High Street and took no notice of me parking in the empty taxi rank to go to the bank. 

A few people out and about today but they all looked legit - bank, supermarket etc.

Drove up the outer road past Centro de Salud etc to get to Mercadona. Long queue at Marcial Ferreteria, 6 in Q at Fruit and Veg shop. No Q at Mercadona, great! Normal sanitary procedures. Few bits missing from shelves again: no raspberries, no red peppers, no pre-baked pies, no chilled coffee of choice, no chilled pastry, no baking powder, no self-raising flour, no loo rolls of choice (only the stuff that disintegrates easily  ). However, none of these was a show stopper and I have learnt which alternatives my friends prefer - always difficult making these decisions for other people. 
Pretty good selection of fruit and veg although not very large quantities, good chocolate selection, cigarette lighters were back after about 4 weeks, good selection of soft fresh baked bread/rolls but not much quantity.

The problem came with the checkout queues - they had more checkouts open than I've ever seen but we were queued 5 or 6 deep at each one, took an age to get through and we were backing up into the aisles making social distancing difficult.

Called in at the pharmacy in La Oliva on the way home - they are always friendly and nice in there but they have been extra helpful during the crisis. Masks for sale in pack of 1, 2 or 5. Max 5 per customer and they scanned Health Card for their records. I think they were just under 1€ each but as they aren't issuing itemised receipts at the moment I could be wrong.

It's also worth noting how friendly and helpful the little supermarket in Tindaya has been - it's tucked up by Bar Gonzalez - the proprietor is English and he has a Spanish assistant. Fresh bread delivery 3 times a day from the bakery in La Oliva. Fresh donuts - fatal! Fresh fruit and veg from Fran & Chemi. Small deli counter. Frozen meat products. Closed 2-4pm. Opens Sunday mornings and all Public Holidays as well - very useful. At the moment you go in the shop one at a time and they fetch things for you - you can't wander and pick up stuff yourself.

  

 

Noticed while driving past the Water Park to the Football roundabout that they have been replacing all the traditional lantern style street lights with the new ones as seen in these pics. I'm sure they are probably more efficient but it's just a bit more character disappearing.

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Tindaya to La Oliva/Villaverde today, noon - 1pm.

No official cars seen at all.

First stop the pharmacy, picked up friend's prescription. Noticed that the staff have stopped wearing masks and gloves!

On to HiperDino, only a couple of people in front of me in queue. They have stopped taking temperature as you go in, perhaps the gadget is broken or the battery ran out! Gel and gloves as normal. Mainly went in for fresh veg and fruit, good selection although I do find their fruit and veg doesn't stay fresh as long as the produce from Mercadona. Several of the other customers were right dopes, no idea of social distancing etc, I was quite embarrassed to discover they were English when I remonstrated with them! Don't want to be tarred with the same brush.
Leaving the supermarket I came across a group of 7 or 8 staff just coming in to work - they couldn't have been closer to each other if they had been holding hands!

My impression of the day is that shop staff are becoming complacent, or perhaps they have been told they can relax a bit, certainly different to a week or two ago when they had a fit if you stood the wrong side of a line. On reflection perhaps I am being a bit harsh, it's tough on us remembering the social distancing stuff for an hour or so when we go shopping, they have to think about it all day every day. But, they are in the front line for infection - we come near to a couple of people a couple of times a week, they are close to hundreds every day, I just hope they all survive OK after all they are doing for the rest of us.

As for me, I drop people's shopping inside their gates, retire to the car, beep the horn, they come out to collect the shopping and we have a few words at a distance of 3-4m. I won't even take cash from them, they do bank transfers every now and again - that's close enough for me. For the people I collect prescriptions for I have a photocopy of their health card, the pharmacy are quite happy with that.

One thing I've noticed is the weight of the 5 or 8L bottles of water! I don't buy them for myself as we have an inline filter on the mains water for drinking water. The weight of them in the trolley, in and out of the car, inside their gates - you don't need to go to a gym! I really don't understand why more people don't have an inline filter. I just keep a couple of large bottles in case of emergency and turn them over every six months or so.