So I went back to work after a week off.

The head offices of most of the major supermarkets must be loving this. They would be rubbing their sanitised hands together with glee if only they could get the supply chain untangled – the current state of globalist affairs would then be like Christmas with bells on.

Just after 10pm, amidst the laminated A4 notices that remind hoarders not to be rude, abusive and violent, and in front of the signs attached to empty shelves -informing the hoarders that 2 or 3 of any given product is the limit – the staff got on with their replenishing duties.

It was very unusual to see the long rows of shelves devoid of items. The stock levels of most items were extremely low, and often non-existent.

Behind the scenes, despite all the handwashing tips and the mental health helpline numbers.. the main message was clear ‘fill up the store, continue to serve our customers’.

Barely a tin of beans or tuna. The Italian-made dry pasta was entirely absent apart from a few cases of kids’ animal shapes.

I proceeded to replenish about a quarter of the rice section, mainly boil-in-bag and pre-cooked microwaveable varieties. The selection of oriental and Indian sauces were filled to about a third of full capacity. There was a lot of stock to put onto the giant shelving. After seven and a half hours of listening to Bob Dylan albums and five chapters of an audiobook version of Micah Clarke.. my latest graveyard shift came to an end.

Despite putting out all the stock at my diposal , long rows of shelves were still empty, but seemingly full enough to justify the opening the store at 6 in the morning, to let in the long queues of impatient hoarders, so they could remove all the essentials from the shelves before 10am. (10am being the begininning of the hour supposedly reserved for the old and the vulnerable.)

The selfish greedy hoarders care only about having their cupboards, fridges freezers and cellars full of non-essential items , especially alcohol and mutant chickens.

I am sure much time could be spent tidying up (and expanding upon also) what I have written into something that someone might enjoy reading. But these rough notes will lie dead here as they are , like the country that I love dearly, and sometimes wish I could hate.