To be more scared now than I was of Covid?

[Thesupercosyquilt]

I know IABU. I need to get a grip.

I wasn't frightened of Covid. The first few weeks were scary, all the uncertainty etc. But once my kids school closed, life for our family kind of carried on somewhat normally. DH and I were both out working at that point. I never thought we would catch it, we're all relatively healthy. I understood people felt differently and was sympathetic towards that, despite some of the more extreme opinions.

But now, with fuel price hikes, food shortages and now petrol being rationed, I am actually scared. It feels like all the panic of March 2020 all over again.

Don't worry, I'm not going to panic buy five million loo rolls. But I have such a sinking feeling knowing this is the start of really crap times ahead unravelling right before our eyes.

@MrsArchchancellorRidcully

I think the current shortage of drivers , fuel etc is due to BREXIT and not covid 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Try listening to the people who KNOW what the problems are instead of just blaming brexit. EUROPE has a shortage of HGV drivers too FFS

Petrol being rationed?
This man in front of us today filled his car then 8 cans.

We drove past our garage tonight and it was being refuelled. I'm an anxious person but there is a lot of scare mongering in the headlines.

I get what you are saying. I am worried about my gas bill for sure. But I also kind of get the vibe that the news and people are really hooked on the idea of a crisis and that things are very much being reported through this excitable lens of 24 hour pandemic news coverage. Some folks on Twitter are positively foaming at the mouth for a crisis to feed them the purpose in life that they are losing as the pandemic slips away.

@BlueberrySugar

Petrol being rationed? This man in front of us today filled his car then 8 cans.

We drove past our garage tonight and it was being refuelled. I'm an anxious person but there is a lot of scare mongering in the headlines.

Why do you think he was filling 8 cans?

Sounds a bit like panic buying to me?!

Meh, been here before. It’s fine. BP are not closing all their petrol stations. If you read the article. It says, somewhat desperately, that they are closing “tens” of petrol stations. Tens!!

This is yet another example of the bloody media inducing panic buying, so it will become a self fulfilling prophesy..

Because he was made to by the headlines is my point! That, or he's going to sell it. Maybe he is a farm worker and needed it to fuel his vehicles to fill our shelves!

Who know, there is too much scare mongering.

Their has been fuel problems before. People got over it then!

@Macncheeseballs

Not everyone uses petrol

We all buy food that’s been delivered fro farm to depot to supermarket. I’m assuming you mean fuel, that’s the issue.

Anyone else remember the rptanker drivers strike of 2000?

That was the last time we had fuel rationing.

I doubt it would be as bad if (huge 'if') it similar happened now. Covid experience might be useful - more people are set up to WFH - reducing need for fuel for their commuting. And less congestion on the roads means better fuel economy. More capacity for supermarket deliveries too - one van rather than several cars

@RancidOldHag

Anyone else remember the rptanker drivers strike of 2000?

That was the last time we had fuel rationing.

I doubt it would be as bad if (huge 'if') it similar happened now. Covid experience might be useful - more people are set up to WFH - reducing need for fuel for their commuting. And less congestion on the roads means better fuel economy. More capacity for supermarket deliveries too - one van rather than several cars

Yes! My dad is a cabby and I remember him driving round looking for where he could fill up.

The media just love to make people panic.

@Macncheeseballs,

I can’t comment on that but I do find it worrying that “they” the so called experts, professors want to vaccinate our kids but can’t make a decision about wearing masks.

I just don’t know where it will all end ?

OP, try not to panic. Nobody really knows what's going to happen yet. Just try and take each day as it comes.

I vaguely remember 2000, but more recently this petrol panic buying sprung to mind with that terrible jerry can advice theguardian.com/uk/2012/mar/30/francis-maude-petrol-panic-strike

Oops a clicky one hopefully www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/mar/30/francis-maude-petrol-panic-strike

Avamiah, so if you don't know about other cities, you can't really say london is a laughing stock. Who's laughing? The other cities?

@RancidOldHag

Anyone else remember the rptanker drivers strike of 2000?

That was the last time we had fuel rationing.

I doubt it would be as bad if (huge 'if') it similar happened now. Covid experience might be useful - more people are set up to WFH - reducing need for fuel for their commuting. And less congestion on the roads means better fuel economy. More capacity for supermarket deliveries too - one van rather than several cars

Yes I remember that time.

You had to drive for miles to fill up and the queues were hours long.

@CravingHobnobs

It states that they may have to close 100 forecourts across the country as they can’t get delivered, that’s out of 8500 forecourts!

It’s all media scaremongering all over again

And if it leads to panic buying that’s down to scare,inverting irresponsible reporting

Not everyone uses petrol

Pretty well everyone eats food that is transported in lorries (this affects diesel as well as petrol).

Yes I agree. This is much more sinister to me, further reaching etc

We have a decent income, are key workers and have no kids - we'll cope by tightening belts. Lots of our friends and neighbours already live very frugally and have kids - it's going to be a bloody hard winter for a lot of people and I'm worried about a lot of my friends.

Panic buying worries me. If we all stay calm we will be fine, even if there’s less supplies than normal. I don’t trust people not to panic buy though.

It's shit but I think the shortages I think are going to mean not always being able to get everything you want, not an inability to get enough food to live on. My mum grew up in a country where food was always in short supply, and it's unlikely to get worse than that, but at the same time I appreciate, as others have said, that everything is much harder for people on lower incomes - we can probably afford to pay whatever it takes. Other households face a much scarier time.

Yeah threads like this really help

It’s all media scaremongering all over again

Just like talk of a killer virus was "scaremongering". Like warnings that the UK leaving the EU would cause major problems in Northern Ireland was "scaremongering". Like saying that global warming would disrupt weather patterns in Europe and North America was "scaremongering". Anyone who uses terms like "scaremongering", "project fear", etc., is just revealing themselves as someone whose response to a fire alarm is to stick their fingers in their ears and shout, "Nothing wrong here! I don't see any smoke! Of course it isn't hot in here!"

Agree @FatOaf!

@Macncheeseballs

Avamiah, so if you don't know about other cities, you can't really say london is a laughing stock. Who's laughing? The other cities?

Well I live in London and in my opinion it is not a great place to live anymore. I won’t go into details out of Respect but anybody who follows the news will know what I’m talking about when I say it is not a Safe place to live.

I hope this changes as it’s a beautiful city.

It’s not so much food shortages as food restrictions. You might not feel exactly what you want but you won’t starve.