Coronavirus Diaries, 2nd edition

No cabbages at any price

If you missed my first coronavirus diary entry, here it is. (Click on the hyperlink.)

Yesterday after posting my Sunday Salon, where I mused about the coronavirus and the new world we are facing, my husband and I went to the grocery store. We were prepared for empty shelves but we just needed a few things: bread, fruits and vegetables, and a few dried goods.

Initially we were pleasantly surprised to find that the produce section was nicely supplied with lots of apples, bananas, potatoes, even salads-in-bags. We had our list and we started shopping. Bananas, check. Potatoes, check. Carrots and celery, check. Then we rounded the corner. No broccoli. Not a single sphere. Wow. That was odd. Our mission was to get cabbage for our traditional boiled dinner. It too was wiped out. There is always cabbage, even when everything is gone, but not now. We got brussel sprouts just in case we can't find cabbage anywhere because, um, they look like little cabbages?

Deeper into the store we moved. Though there was still plenty of meat, the corned beef bags were completely gone. Lucky I'd bought ours earlier in the week. As we walked past the alcohol section we decided to buy a half case of Corona beer because, um, news reports of stupid people thinking that the beer has something to do with the virus was spoiling sales. Apparently, according to Snopes, that story is false, but we had a laugh over it anyway.

We took a circuitous route to the organic section and found both rye and organic wheat breads. Score. We also found an organic dried bean soup mix which was lucky since the regular, inorganic mixes were completely wiped out. Apparently the secret to our success was this stopover since all the items we got in this section were not available elsewhere in the store. Take note.

People were scurrying around the store with dazed looks on their faces. It was hit or miss what we could find. There was plenty of milk and yogurt, which we didn't need, but the bread section looked like a bomb had gone off. The only kind remaining were hot dog buns. When I mentioned that to Don another customer laughed out loud. We were all in the same boat.

We grabbed some of the last containers of kitty litter, stepping around one box which was spilled on the ground, and finished up our shopping by selecting some ice cream flavors. We chose Mint Chocolate Chip because it was green (for above-mentioned boiled dinner, St. Patrick's Day theme.)

I thanked Don for shopping with me as he was better prepared for the experience than I, having lived through a visit to Trader Joe's earlier in the weekend to pick up a bottle of pizza sauce. This is what he found:

Next to nothing on shelves at Trader Joes

The gal at the check out laughed when we said we'd see her tomorrow when we come back for a cabbage. What did that laugh mean? Hmm. Was it, "Good luck with that wishful thinking?" or "Yes, I'll be happy to see you again so soon?" I don't know. But I should get dressed and run to the store to see which statement is closer to the truth.

Hope you are doing well in your neck of the woods. Stay positive. Eat brussel sprouts. Who knows we may end up liking them.

-Anne