IlonaM

This is what is on the Sainsburys Groceries website this morning: Working to feed the nation We are working round-the-clock to provide customers with more information around how we plan to continue serving our customers in the current climate, especially those who are elderly and vulnerable. How we?re responding to COVID-19 (coronavirus) We have listened to your feedback and taken further steps to make sure everyone has access to food and essential items, and to keep supporting our colleagues From Monday 23 March, we are consolidating our opening hours and all our supermarkets will be open from 8am to 8pm Monday-Saturday. Sunday opening, Sainsbury?s Local and petrol station hours will stay the same. This means we can focus our store colleagues? time on keeping shelves stocked and serving our customers well. Many of you have told us how much you appreciated the hour we set aside for elderly and vulnerable customers on Thursday 19 March, and that you would like this to become a regular event. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, all our supermarkets will dedicate 8am to 9am to serving elderly, disabled and vulnerable customers, as well as NHS and Social Care workers. Helping elderly, disabled and vulnerable customers access food online (from Monday 23 March) Adding more Click & Collect locations (from Monday 23 March) Putting limits on certain products (from Wednesday 18 March) Closing our cafes and counters (from Thursday 19 March). You can read the latest from our CEO Mike Coupe at the bottom of this page. How we?re helping our customers From Monday 23 March, our existing online customers who are over 70 years of age, vulnerable or who have a disability will get priority access to online home delivery and access to click & collect slots. We?ve already been able to identify some existing customers who are elderly, vulnerable and disabled through the information that we have about them and we will be emailing these customers over the course of the weekend, but we know that we haven?t been able to identify all of our vulnerable customers. We?re working hard, alongside the government and retail industry, to identify more of them. We are also working hard to make further home delivery and click & collect slots available for our delivery pass customers and will be contacting these customers over the coming days. As we have shared, we are increasing access to our click & collect service and we hope to make that available to more customers very soon. Identifying our elderly, disabled and vulnerable customers From Monday 23 March, our existing online customers who are over 70 years of age, vulnerable or who have a disability will get priority access to online home delivery and click & collect slots. We?ve already been able to identify some existing customers who are elderly, vulnerable and disabled through the information that we have about them and we will be emailing these customers over the course of the weekend, but we know that we haven?t been able to identify all of our vulnerable customers. We?re working hard, alongside the government and retail industry, to identify more of them. There?ll soon be a process in place so you can tell us that you?re elderly, disabled or vulnerable and get added to our vulnerable list and we?ll let you know how to do this through our website. Delivering to self-isolating customers If you are self-isolating, please let us know using the delivery instructions box ? this can be done when you are placing or amending your order at checkout. Otherwise this can be found in My Account > My addresses > Add your delivery instructions. Our drivers will call ahead to let you know when they will be dropping your shopping in bags on the doorstep. If you have identified as being in self-isolation our drivers will ask you to wait inside before bagging up your order, placing it on your doorstep and letting you know that it is ready for you to pick up. We are unable to accept any returns on the doorstep from self-isolating customers however, customers can receive a refund for any substitutes by getting in touch with our Contact Centre. Finally, our colleagues will not ask you to sign for your delivery. Doorstep deliveries In order to protect the safety and wellbeing of our customers and colleagues we are taking a number of steps to ensure that we are able to deliver to you as safely as possible. We have taken the decision to deliver your shopping to your front door rather than taking it inside. If you live in a flat, we will still bring your shopping to your own front door. A handy tip can be to keep some shopping bags, cardboard boxes or even your laundry basket close by when your delivery is due to help bring your shopping into your house. Drivers will use alcohol based hand sanitiser regularly throughout their deliveries. Delivery slot availability From Monday 23 March, our existing online customers who are over 70 years of age, vulnerable or who have a disability will get priority access to online home delivery slots and access to Click & Collect services. We?re working to identify more vulnerable customers and hope to be able to open this service to new customers soon. We are also working hard to make further home delivery and click & collect slots available for our delivery pass customers and will be contacting these customers over the coming days. As we have shared, we are increasing access to our Click & Collect service and we hope to make that available to more customers very soon. Product availability We want to acknowledge that are we are experiencing extremely high demand for certain products currently and as such have introduced some quantity restrictions. Customers will be able to buy a maximum of three of any grocery product and a maximum of two on the most popular products including toilet paper, soap and UHT milk. We have enough food coming into the system, but are limiting sales so that it stays on shelves for longer and can be bought by a larger numbers of customers.  Substitutions We want to acknowledge that are we are experiencing extremely high demand for certain products currently and as such have introduced some quantity restrictions. Customers will be able to buy a maximum of three of any grocery product and a maximum of two on the most popular products including toilet paper, soap and UHT milk. We have enough food coming into the system, but are limiting sales so that it stays on shelves for longer and can be bought by a larger numbers of customers. We are unable to accept any returns on the doorstep from self-isolating customers however, customers can receive a refund for any substitutes by getting in touch with our Contact Centre. Customers without a Delivery Pass If you fall into the definition of a vulnerable customer then we are working through how to identify you and give you access to priority home delivery. If you do not fall into this category then you can still access grocery online through our expanded click and collect offer. At the moment we?re focussing on customers that need our help the most. Click & Collect For our Click and Collect online customers who can travel to our stores, from Monday 23 March, we will operate an expanded ?click and collect? service. We are significantly increasing the number of collection sites across the country over the coming days in preparation for this. Customers can place their order online as usual and pick it up from a collection point in the store car park.

Latest email update from Sainsburys CEO: - Change of opening hours across stores: 'From Monday 23rd March, we are consolidating our opening hours and all our supermarkets will be open from 8am to 8pm, Monday-Saturday, including those with an Argos store. Sunday opening, Sainsbury?s Local and petrol station opening times will stay the same.' - Dedicated hour: 'Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, all our supermarkets will dedicate 8am - 9am to serving elderly, disabled and vulnerable customers, as well as NHS and Social Care workers. They will just need to show us their pass or ID when they visit. Some of you fed back that you couldn?t find what you wanted during that hour, so we will try our best to have essential items on shelf for these customers. We will be working to keep our shelves well stocked and would encourage customers to arrive throughout the hour to prevent queues forming and to help everyone keep a safe distance.' - Payment by card rather than cash prefered - Social distancing & respect for all Full email below: 'Dear [], I wanted to write to you again to update you on the steps we are taking to make sure everyone has access to food and essential items. I'm also sharing more information about how we are supporting our colleagues in these challenging times and how you can help. An increasing number of you have told me that you're not always able to get the items that you need when you need them. We are working with our suppliers to get even more stock of essential items and we are adding warehouse capacity on a daily basis. You will have seen that we put restrictions in place this week to ensure that more products are on shelf for longer. From Monday 23rd March, we are consolidating our opening hours and all our supermarkets will be open from 8am to 8pm, Monday-Saturday, including those with an Argos store. Sunday opening, Sainsbury?s Local and petrol station opening times will stay the same. This means we can focus our store colleagues? time on keeping shelves stocked and serving our customers well during the times that most of you are already shopping. Last Thursday, we set aside an hour for elderly and vulnerable shoppers in our supermarkets. Many of you have told me how much you appreciated this and that you would like this to become a regular event. Some of you also said we should extend this to members of our hardworking NHS and Social Care workers. And we will be doing just that. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, all our supermarkets will dedicate 8am - 9am to serving elderly, disabled and vulnerable customers, as well as NHS and Social Care workers. They will just need to show us their pass or ID when they visit. Some of you fed back that you couldn?t find what you wanted during that hour, so we will try our best to have essential items on shelf for these customers. We will be working to keep our shelves well stocked and would encourage customers to arrive throughout the hour to prevent queues forming and to help everyone keep a safe distance. Hundreds of you have written to me to thank our amazing colleagues who are working around the clock to serve our customers. A number of you have also shared your concerns for the safety and wellbeing of our colleagues. I want you to know that we are doing all we can to support everyone who works in our business. We have committed to paying all colleagues who are unwell or need to self-isolate for the full period of fourteen days. We have also committed to paying vulnerable and elderly colleagues in full if the government decides they should isolate for 12 weeks. We hope this will go some way to helping our teams through this uncertain time and we are looking at other ways to thank our colleagues for their extraordinary efforts. To keep our colleagues safe, I need to ask again for your help. Please do your best to stand one metre away from colleagues in our stores where you can. And we would prefer you to pay with card rather than cash at our tills. Please also treat our colleagues and other customers with kindness and respect. These are unprecedented circumstances and our colleagues are being asked to come to work every day while so many others are being asked to stay at home. We all need them to keep coming to work to feed the nation ? a small thank you goes a really long way. I hope you will join us in looking out for each other and the communities that we serve. Best wishes Mike'

Hi Wee Queenie, You suggested you might be able to offer support by phone. You could contact LinkAge, Age Concern , or a local church to see if they would like a volunteer who could have a chat with an elderly/vulnerable person by phone. That way you are safely distant but contributing to the community spirit at the same time. Stay safe, Ilona

5 colourful goldfinches just visited my garden. Cheered me up to see them. Nature is a great source of calm.

JohnL Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > singalto Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I wanted to do a Sainsburys online shop but all > > slots were booked up until the 8th April so, as > I > > have problems sleeping, I decided to read until > > midnight and watched the 9th April appear in > the > > delivery calendar: there were no available > slots! > > How is that possible? > > Priority to those registered as in need. > > "our online customers who are over 70 years of age > or have a disability will have priority access to > online delivery slots" Problem is making sure you can register as such. I haven't got through on phone and last time I looked there was no way of making sure registered through my online account.

singalto Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I wanted to do a Sainsburys online shop but all > slots were booked up until the 8th April so, as I > have problems sleeping, I decided to read until > midnight and watched the 9th April appear in the > delivery calendar: there were no available slots! > How is that possible? I know, I did exactly the same thing. Couldn't believe my eyes.

Jules-and-Boo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Blah Blah Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Maybe we can set up a forum foodbank thread, > where > > those who are genuinely struggling to get any > item > > of basic food, can ask for what they need, on > the > > off chance someone can get something for them > or > > has something they can share. Could that work? > > I'm also worried about people who don't have > anything to eat. > > I think it's a good idea. "Items Wanted" > > This may all get back on track soon - or it could > go on for months. They uncertainty is making > people stockpile even more, so the same people are > likely to be going back again and again. > > lameduck - is there anything you need? I think a Forum food bank idea is a very good solution. I was lucky enough to see SueJ's post in the business section about her supplier swapping to home deliveries when I couldn't access milk 7 eggs the other day. I have been freezing portions of milk in case I cannot access milk in the coming weeks. Hopefully once the shelf-raiding has calmed down and the supermarkets get a workable system in place, things will become more stable again.

NewWave Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Our cat needs special dietary dried food only > available from the vet. > We've been there two days on the trot all gone > people have been stockpiling cat food. > Vet kindly agreed to save a pack as delivery was > expected today and I explained I need to work and > would come in later on. > I phoned first as it is not directly on my route > home. > Delivery still hasn't arrived and they had run out > of their medical neccesites too. > If push comes to shove we could feed our cat > normal food (not ideal but he wouldn't starve) But > more worrisome is medical supplies not reaching > the vet. > This country is in meltdown and its only the > beginning! Have a look online 'seller 'vetimed' on ebay may have it. I get a food supplement for my cat from them via ebay. Or Zooplus, an online pet shop also sells special diet foods.

Puzzles, sketchbooks or notebooks (maybe start jotting down snipets of family history)?

Been notified that my Sainsburys delivery today will not have milk, eggs, flour etc. so there is an impact of the store-raiding on online deliveries, if you can find a slot that is - S'burys no slots available for next three weeks as far as i can see. ETA: given up trying to get through on phone after an hour. Have replied to an order confirmation email requesting registration and that they implement an online option for others to register as disabled/elderly/vulnerable. Hopefully it makes its way up the chain of command. Nope email rejected. There must be a way of contacting them by email??

singalto Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > How do you prove you are elderly or disabled to > get priority with online shopping? And just one > hour on one day for the same people? I am trying to work that out at the moment. No facility via online account that I can find. Tried to phone earlier, but lines keep failing or if you get through long wait. They don't appear to allow email anymore.

Follow-up email from Sainsburys this morning: 'Dear [], I wrote to you last week to tell you about some of the steps we are taking to support increased demand for food and other essential items. After I wrote to you last week, many of you replied. You wrote to share your concerns about our elderly and vulnerable customers and to ask if we can do more to restrict the number of items each person can buy. I have listened to feedback from you and from Sainsbury's colleagues across the country and wanted to share some of the extra steps we are taking to make sure everyone has access to the items that they need: A number of you suggested that we reserve an hour in stores for elderly and vulnerable customers. In response to this request, we will set aside the first hour in every supermarket this Thursday 19th March, for elderly and vulnerable customers. I hope that you can respect this decision and will work with us as we try our best to help those that need it the most. If you or an elderly family member, friend or neighbour would like to shop during this hour, please check online for your local supermarket opening hours. We will also help elderly and vulnerable customers access food online. From Monday 23rd March, our online customers who are over 70 years of age or have a disability will have priority access to online delivery slots. We will contact these customers in the coming days with more details. For any online customer who can travel to our stores, from Monday 23rd March, we will operate an expanded 'click and collect' service. We are significantly increasing the number of collection sites across the country over the coming days in preparation for this. Customers can place their order online as usual and pick it up from a collection point in the store car park. We believe this will also work for people who are self-isolating. As we work to feed the nation, we are also focusing all of our efforts on getting as much food and other essential items from our suppliers, into our warehouses and onto shelves as we possibly can. We still have enough food for everyone - if we all just buy what we need for us and our families. To help us get more essential items onto the shelves, from this Thursday 19th March, we will be closing our cafes and our meat, fish and pizza counters in supermarkets. This means we can free up warehouse and lorry capacity for products that customers really need. It will also free up time for our store colleagues to focus on keeping the shelves as well stocked as possible. I mentioned last week that we had put limits on a very small number of products. Following feedback from our customers and from our store colleagues, we have decided to put restrictions on a larger number of products. From tomorrow, Wednesday 18th March, customers will be able to buy a maximum of three of any grocery product and a maximum of two on the most popular products including toilet paper, soap and UHT milk. We have enough food coming into the system, but are limiting sales so that it stays on shelves for longer and can be bought by a larger numbers of customers. Finally, I wanted to end by saying a huge thank you to Sainsbury's colleagues across the business. Everyone is working flat out in difficult circumstances to do their best to serve our customers. If you're able to say thank you to them when you see them, I know they would hugely appreciate it. Best wishes Mike'

I've noticed the difference over Underhill over the last few days. Every now and then I hear one, but generally very peaceful. Apparently pollution is greatly reduced over areas of the world which have enforced quarantines on their citizens as industry, cars etc. stand down. Even the water in Venice's canals is clean again according to La Stampa.

Had an email from Sainsburys this morning: 'Dear [], You will have seen that, due to the ongoing uncertainty around the full impact of Coronavirus, supermarkets have been much busier than usual and customers are choosing to stock up. I wanted to personally reassure you that we have more food and other essential items coming to us from manufacturers and into our warehouses and distribution centres. If we all shop just for the food that we and our families need, there will be enough for everyone. I also wanted to let you know that at Sainsbury's, we are working really hard to ensure this remains the case. Over the past two weeks we have: - Ordered more stock of essential items from our suppliers - Put more capacity into our warehouses and - Set limits on a small number of items, including some cleaning products, soap and pain relief. This is a precautionary measure - if everyone shops normally, there will be enough for everyone. There are gaps on shelves because of increased demand, but we have new stock arriving regularly and we're doing our best to keep shelves stocked. Our store colleagues are working tirelessly and doing the best job they can. Which brings me onto a request. Please think before you buy and only buy what you and your family need. If we all do this then we can make sure we have enough for everyone. And please help elderly and vulnerable friends, family and neighbours with their shopping if you can. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and to thank our colleagues who are all working incredibly hard to ensure we can continue to serve our customers well. Best wishes Mike'

Lollipop Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Just to be clear - The people I am thinking about > are those who do not have access to technology - > homeless and the elderly. How do we locate them > and help? Are there local churches who might know of people in need and could maybe help coordinate a response? Also night shelters locally - Robes Project etc.?

Looking from Underhill Rd back garden towards Woodvale - Who knew the end of the rainbow was in Woodvale!!

I had a similar problem last year and got some good advice here: /forum/read.php?20,2073532,2074502#msg-2074502 Ultimately a plumber had to change a valve.

Dear fellow East Dulwich forum users, I just signed the petition "Save Our BBC" and wanted to ask if you could add your name too. This campaign means a lot to me and the more support we can get behind it, the better chance we have of succeeding. You can read more and sign the petition here: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-our-bbc-1?bucket=email-blast-16_2_2020_teamreactiveblast&share=58855f0d-9b40-4773-9e41-93de288df1b7&utm_campaign=blast2020-02-16 Can you also take a moment to share the petition with others? It's really easy ? all you need to do is forward this email or click these links: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Thank you! Ilona

I have this one this morning.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shine-through-the-darkness-towns-across-the-uk-along-thames-london-eye-tickets-89162536547 LONDON (The London events listed here have been checked with Met Police and are co-ordinating with the policing plan to ensure safety) Shine through the Darkness/ Not in Our Name, LONDON 31st Jan 10.30pm-11.30pm , beside the Thames ,Queen?s Walk London South Bank, north/east of London Eye. (Twitter @our_kate ) For legal reasons please don?t demonstrate within the park, and keep public right of way passable. "If you're not indifferent then don't be invisible. SHOW that Farage and Johnson don?t speak for you. Stand up for the values and rights which are under attack and express our hope for eventual reunion. Let phone torches be seen shimmering a message of solidarity beside the Thames, and shine a light on the lack of consent (from younger generations, from the devolved countries etc.) and lack of accountability (think Russia Report etc) that is involved in Brexit. Keys jingle, symbolising the protections and freedoms we are determined to fight for.? Spread the word, it's down to YOU! This Initiative has zero pence funding. 31st Jan 2.30-5.30pm A bientot/see you soon procession Downing Street-St John Smith Square European Commission offices 31st Jan 5-8pm Mayor's Event for European Londoners on Brexit Day City Hall 31st Jan 5.30-11.30pm Don?t Make Citizens Pay the Price of Brexit New Europeans? silent march and candlelit vigil for citizens? rights, route and location TBC in coordination with Met Police)

Events for those who want to show solidarity with our EU friends and family: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shine-through-the-darkness-towns-across-the-uk-along-thames-london-eye-tickets-89162536547 LONDON (The London events listed here have been checked with Met Police and are co-ordinating with the policing plan to ensure safety) Shine through the Darkness/ Not in Our Name, LONDON 31st Jan 10.30pm-11.30pm , beside the Thames ,Queen?s Walk London South Bank, north/east of London Eye. (Twitter @our_kate ) For legal reasons please don?t demonstrate within the park, and keep public right of way passable. "If you're not indifferent then don't be invisible. SHOW that Farage and Johnson don?t speak for you. Stand up for the values and rights which are under attack and express our hope for eventual reunion. Let phone torches be seen shimmering a message of solidarity beside the Thames, and shine a light on the lack of consent (from younger generations, from the devolved countries etc.) and lack of accountability (think Russia Report etc) that is involved in Brexit. Keys jingle, symbolising the protections and freedoms we are determined to fight for.? Spread the word, it's down to YOU! This Initiative has zero pence funding. 31st Jan 2.30-5.30pm A bientot/see you soon procession Downing Street-St John Smith Square European Commission offices 31st Jan 5-8pm Mayor's Event for European Londoners on Brexit Day City Hall 31st Jan 5.30-11.30pm Don?t Make Citizens Pay the Price of Brexit New Europeans? silent march and candlelit vigil for citizens? rights, route and location TBC in coordination with Met Police)

Nicholas Parsons https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jan/28/nicholas-parsons-host-of-just-a-minute-dies-aged-96