Wednesday 15 April 2020

Classified as vulnerable.

I was encouraged by the official letter re my vulnerability to text them.  I was then encouraged to get the free food boxes.  But if I had someone who could shop i.e. the D.P. not to. So I didnt .  But then trying to sort out being recognised as vulnerable to get a supermarket online shop spot I had to have requested the boxes.  With me so far?  So I did and now supermarkets have been informed of my existence and will be in touch.....  Once I get a supermarket sorted I will cancel the free government boxes as I feel others should benefit.  But today two boxes arrived.

The amount of food was unbelievable and strange.


Times 2.

So we extracted a minimal amount we would use.  Note the sachets on the left are your sum total of tea and coffee!  The rest we dispersed to a bag for the food bank, some to my neighbour for her grandparents she shops for.  Madness.

Back to sanity.




March up the prom and back.  Eider Ducks in the above pic.  Only two days back in the walking and already notice a difference in my breathing and fitness levels.  Way to go yet.  But go I will.

Beautiful weather too.  Pulled some of our rhubarb and that to went to the neighbour too.

They do say in America the obese are falling like flies to the coronavirus.  No doubt they get the same food boxes.

8 comments:

50 and counting said...

I live in Canada and can tell you that here there is no delivery of free food to the medically fragile. They rely on the charity of others via the foodbanks or churches.

People in the UK have really no idea of how well looked after they are. There are no payments to "carers" here. If my husband became ill and I had to leave paid work to care for him, I would only be eligible for my government old age pension. The attitude is "for sickness or health, for better or worse". Unless there is private insurance the price of prescriptions is prohibitive for many. I've had patients who know they need to take their medications, but they choose to eat or heat their homes. There is no winter fuel allowances here (and I live where there is winter six months of the year, it's snowing as I type)

kjsutcliffe said...

In practise, it makes good sense to supply foodstuffs for the vulnerable, but then - who actually decides what should go in? What foods are perceived as healthy and sensible?

DUTA said...

Perhaps, you should keep those products with a long shelf life, as there might be shortage of food or even famine in the future. Yes, even in Great Britain!

carolyn said...

Madness? You don't know how lucky you are. Many, many here in the US, and around the world, would be so very grateful for such help. Glad you are donating some of it.

Jackie said...

Oh, I see you got out on the prom again, I have been absent for awhile. Hope you can continue your walks.

Like the first poster I live in a province of Canada that seems to have winter (or at least really cold weather for 6 months of the year, just a bit of snow at the beginning of the week).

I help out our youngest son since he broke his hip and has been stuck inside for the last 2 1/2 months. Worker's Comp is paying me for my drive up there and cleaning his apartment. Not a lot but it does pay the gas and buys him a few groceries as well.

God bless.

Patricia & Fouad said...

How lucky you are to receive such a generous food basket. People are lining up for hours here in Southern California just to get any food that's available. As an American, I have to take offense at your obesity comment. My friend's husband died from this horrible virus a few days ago. It's not a joke.

Lynn Marie said...

Huh. Maybe those would not have been my first food choices, but except for the canned hot dogs (!) they all look reasonable and I'd be glad to make use of the potatoes, carrots, pasta, and rice. Perhaps you are objecting to the carbohydrates? I'm sure some fresh greens would not go amiss but they are harder to handle in a box program. Not sure where you're getting the obesity thing either as it's not been described as being a risk factor and percentage wise the young and fit are often going down as hard as us decrepit old people. Not being critical of your observations; as you've said before your observations are your own and this is your blog. SO GLAD you're getting out to the prom again as I know it means a lot to you. I was worrying!

susie @ persimmon moon cottage said...

Be thankful for the generous box of food you received (delivered to your home! Amazing.). Your government programs are far more generous than ours. Here in the Midwest USA, if you are sick and/or disabled,or vulnerable, there is no free box of a very generous amount of food coming to your home. If you don't have family or friends to go to the store for you to shop and bring food for you, you go hungry. Sometimes, church groups come to people's aid. Right now the online canned and dry groceries are often out of stock.

In my area, just outside of St.Louis, there are now 1/2 mile,and longer, lines of cars of people in several locations, who are now out of work and not yet receiving unemployment payments, waiting in line for an hour or more to be able to pick up a box of food for their family. Some free food banks are having a hard time keeping food on their shelves.

People who used to be able to pay for home delivery of their food, now in my area, have long waits for their grocery store deliveries, because it is difficult to schedule a delivery with so many people relying on food delivery because they don't want to expose themselves to the virus in the stores. People working in our grocery stores are getting sick from the virus, too.

The virus has recently hit the meat processing plants hard in our country, and some of the plants have been closed. Previously, healthy, very strong, individuals, downed by this virus. I would not be surprised if we start having a meat shortage at some point in the future.

If I were you, I would keep some of those food items you have been so generously giving to others. That way you will have extra food on hand if the food supply situation gets worse in your country.

I don't know what the offhand comment about the obese "falling like flies" in the USA was all about, but it sounded rather snarky to me, maybe because I'm overweight, as are many people in your country. What difference does that make to you if someone is obese? This virus can sicken and kill anyone. But yes, the obese are being stricken down with the Covid 19 virus here in the USA. So are perfectly fit young women and men, as are middle aged people who are healthy, people with no other known health problems, tall people, short people, many older people, especially in nursing homes, people with any lung problems,heart problems, diabetes, a small percentage of children and babies. If they die from this Virus in the hospital, they die with no family allowed at the bedside, possibly a nurse will be there as they leave this world. Every single one of them (even the obese ones) a fellow human being, made sick and sometimes killed by this nightmare of a virus. It is a worrisome, sad, and difficult time for many people all over the world right now.

Be thankful for a government that is so good to you.