Careful, it's dangerous out there...

[Steve Maskery]

I've been thinking for a while that my life is not complete without another freezer.

I have a fridge-freezer in the kitchen, a small FF under the stairs and a n under-the-counter freezer in the conservatory, but that really belongs to my mate Charlie who, very understandably, wants it back.

So I've been on the hunt.

I found one I liked the look of. Google and all that. Curry's no stock. John Lewis, no stock.

FlyGadget, stock and good price. Storefully stock and good price.

I tried to place an order with my credit card. Order failed. Two different cards, two times, both sites. "Please contact us to complete your purchase". Phone number is permanently engaged, the Contact Us email page gives an error, but hey, Live Chat has a real human being at the end! Result!

This is, apparently, because too many people are trying to use the buying portal at the same time. Really? Panic buying of freezers at 8.30pm? But no matter, here are our bank details, just make a transfer and you can complete your transaction.

Yeah, right.

I all looks legit. It even has proper phone numbers and a real geographical address. One in Derby, actually, not far away.

And it's all a scam.

I G'd Storefully Customer Reviews. It turns out that lots of people have handed over money via Bank Transfer, then no goods and no refund. Live Chat shuts down, emails remain unanswered.

It's quite sophisticated really, they have all the appearance of a proper site, both of them, and they come up top of the Google rankings, but it is all fake.

So then I started to look more locally. Curry's and JLP have no stock, what about Euronics? I rang my local franchisee. Lady answers.

"A freezer, you say? Oooh, mmmmnnnn." Lots of sucking of teeth. "Go to the Euronics website, find what you want and then I can tell you whether or not we can get it." OK, so I did.

"Sorry we are out of stock".

A couple more phone calls. One place told me that there are no freezers in the country, that people are buying fridge-freezers just to get the freezer bit and they don't expect to have any freezers until at least the middle of May.

I'm lucky. I don't need this. But I wish I'd bought it when I first thought about it, a few months back.

The normal world is shutting down and I am getting really quite scared.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Some of this might be due to the Chinese shutdown now filtering through - all the ships that should have been leaving China a month ago didn't, which will start to show as lack of goods now. Having said that, I thought all white goods were made in Spain or Turkey these days, in the same factories, then given the badge of choice once shipped to the "manufacturer". My dishwasher has the name "Pitsos" on the front, but inside it is a Bosch. I know this because I have done any number of repairs on the poor beast.

Doesn't mean people aren't panic buying freezers - just thinking out loud as to where the supply-chain failure might be.

 

[sunnybob]

All large companies work to the "Just In Time" system. the entire supply chain speed is adjusted to avoid freezer mountains in very expensive rental warehouses.

When something becomes a sudden MUST HAVE, the supply chain ruptures. It will take a couple of months for the chain to become operative again, but even then, any smart business man will know there wont be any more freezer sales for a couple years after this rush is satisfied, so they will be scaling DOWN production, not ramping it up.

The good news is that once the virus has done its worst, slightly used fridge freezers will be for sale at a quid a dozen

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Yesterday, I cut my front lawn. Mike from two doors down came back from work early, so we chewed the fat for a bit. Then I went back to cutting the lawn, and the lady of the house next door waved from her front window - so we chewed the fat for a bit. Then Jane next door t'other side came back from the shops, so we chewed the fat for a bit. Then the chap with the golden labrador from the next street passed, so we chewed the fat for a bit. Then Mike from over the road came back from the dentist, so - well, you get the message. I did eventually get the lawn cut, just about before it went dark!

Dunno about social isolation. Finding a bit of peace and quiet will be the problem round here!

Thing is, somewhere among all this, one of them told me about the incident in our local John Lewis this week when a lady ordered the largest chest freezer they had. Certainly, madam, we'll deliver it next Wednesday. That's no good, I've got a bulk order coming from the supermarket on Friday, and I need it before then.

May be apocryphal, being at least third hand before it got to me. But, yes, there's definitely a lot of people stocking up.

Calm down, folks. Shops are going to stay open these next twelve weeks, you know!

(Steve - I know you're not panic buying. You've mentioned Charlie wanting his appliance back before all this madness broke out.)

 

[Andy Kev.]

That's actually quite an encouraging sort of post as it sounds like, at least on your street, that the spirit of village life is reawakening. IMO the world is definitely a better place if we can all find time for a natter.

 

[lurker]

If we get power cuts there is going to be a lot of food wasted.
Electricity generation requires a lot of skilled people to keep it running and we have cut spare capacity to the bone.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

That's actually quite an encouraging sort of post as it sounds like, at least on your street, that the spirit of village life is reawakening. IMO the world is definitely a better place if we can all find time for a natter.

Along those lines, I spotted this article yesterday;

https://unherd.com/2020/03/coronavirus- ... l-society/

The old country ain't done for yet, folks. Not by a long chalk.

 

[sunnybob]

That's actually quite an encouraging sort of post as it sounds like, at least on your street, that the spirit of village life is reawakening. IMO the world is definitely a better place if we can all find time for a natter.

But.... but....but..... the whole point is to STOP "social interaction".
Wheres the benifit os sending everybody home so they dont infect each other, when they then stand around talking to each other at home?

 

[Cheshirechappie]

That's actually quite an encouraging sort of post as it sounds like, at least on your street, that the spirit of village life is reawakening. IMO the world is definitely a better place if we can all find time for a natter.

But.... but....but..... the whole point is to STOP "social interaction".
Wheres the benifit os sending everybody home so they dont infect each other, when they then stand around talking to each other at home?

*chuckle*

The irony had crossed my mind, too! In our defence, M'Lud, we did all stand about six feet apart, and we weren't all talking together at the same time, so it wasn't a 'large social gathering'! That closes the case for the defence, M'Lud!

 

[AES]

I may be wrong Steve, but I thought just about all fridges and freezers come from Italy these days (along with workshop type compressors too, BTW), regardless of the manufacturer's badge they carry. And even "non-Italian-made" items are apparently "full" of Italian-made components such as compressors.

Don't know if the news coverage about Italy is as detailed in UK as it is here (it's a direct neighbour to us) but from what I've seen and heard here, Italy really is in deep "do do" - worst affected country in Europe.

So I'm not surprised you're having difficulty getting hold of one (little comfort I know).

Don't you write for an Italian mag (or am I confusing you with a different member here)?

 

[Steve Maskery]

You may be right, Andy, though I think Beko are Turkish.

Yes, I write for LegnoLab (though I've not written much lately - I really need to get my Wardrobe build into some sort of article format). I had an email from Francesco, my editor, just last night. He has two young boys who are now at home for the foreseeable future and his wife is an airline stewardess, so I guess she will be grounded. At least they live in a house with a big garden, some considerable distance from anyone else (off the road, down the lane, onto a track), but even so, it sounds horrendous. And as he points out, many of the boys' mates live in apartments, so they can't even go out to play.
He summed it up as "a real mess, here, Steve".

 

[flying haggis]

hi steve

have you tried gumtree for another f/f

https://www.gumtree.com/kitchen-applian ... n-ashfield

perhaps find what you want there

 

[HappyHacker]

I have a second hand upright fridge/freezer that I am currently storing for the Village Hall. If any one wants to pay me an extortionate price, cash, for it they can come and collect it

The Village hall can then buy a new one in due course

Kevin

 

[sawdust1]

The other half got back from town yesterday and said nearly every third car along the A30 was towing
a caravan or loaded up with holiday stuff, i thought Boris said essential journey's only!

 

[Droogs]

The other half got back from town yesterday and said nearly every third car along the A30 was towing
a caravan or loaded up with holiday stuff, i thought Boris said essential journey's only!

That is the preppy nutters and well to do getting out of dodge and getting ready for armageddon

 

[Nigel Burden]

We're cancelling our week in Port Isaac that was due to start next Saturday and re booking for next year as my wife can't fit anything in this year and is in precautionary isolation. She was fortunate in that she was allowed home, but some of her colleagues have had to isolate at the nursing home as they had been in contact with the resident who was taken ill. The symptoms were not those of coronavirus, but the owners took these precautions just in case. It also looks as if her week in Edinburgh is off in May.

Nigel.

 

[Geoff_S]

The other half got back from town yesterday and said nearly every third car along the A30 was towing
a caravan or loaded up with holiday stuff, i thought Boris said essential journey's only!

That is the preppy nutters and well to do getting out of dodge and getting ready for armageddon

Living in a caravan? Give me Armageddon. Too many memories of family holidays on the windswept shores of Great Yarmouth. Trudging out to the shower block, tepid water only.

 

[SammyQ]

We had a medical necessity in Newcastle yesterday and the northern A1, coming home, had a similar noticeable contingent of cars with rucsacs, sleeping bags, toilet rolls, carrier bags, all packed across the back window. All going like the clappers too. Is there a preppers convention or centre around Berwick then? :shock:

Sam

 

[whatknot]

I am very glad to hear it

So many seem to think its a great idea to go on holiday and at a time like this its utter madness

We have a very limited amount of hospital space and likewise food in the supermarkets in Cornwall

We are pleading with those remaining holiday parks and hotels to close or not open in some cases, they are heeding the pleas, so anyone coming down here may find their journeys are wasted

Please all stay at home

Why anyone would want to come down and sit in a room or caravan is beyond me, shops, pubs, restaurants are closed

We're cancelling our week in Port Isaac that was due to start next Saturday and re booking for next year as my wife can't fit anything in this year and is in precautionary isolation. She was fortunate in that she was allowed home, but some of her colleagues have had to isolate at the nursing home as they had been in contact with the resident who was taken ill. The symptoms were not those of coronavirus, but the owners took these precautions just in case. It also looks as if her week in Edinburgh is off in May.

Nigel.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

I am very glad to hear it

So many seem to think its a great idea to go on holiday and at a time like this its utter madness

We have a very limited amount of hospital space and likewise food in the supermarkets in Cornwall

We are pleading with those remaining holiday parks and hotels to close or not open in some cases, they are heeding the pleas, so anyone coming down here may find their journeys are wasted

Please all stay at home

Why anyone would want to come down and sit in a room or caravan is beyond me, shops, pubs, restaurants are closed

Reports from family in Cornwall suggest that holiday homes are filling up. If I lived in London and had a second home in the countryside I would be out of the city like a shot.

I live in an area a bit like Cornwall, and I have the same problem - Athens is emptying as everyone goes back to their home village to sit out the quarantine. Would you rather have access to beach, mountains, garden etc, or fester in a fourth-floor apartment in filthy Athens?

Of course being a resident of one of the small villages, I say "Red sky at night? GET OFF MY LAND!"

I'm not going out to meet them, so it doesn't really matter much, and I already have all I need for the foreseeable future, so no major desire to go shopping. They may break our not very good local healthcare system, which will be interesting.



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