Business as Unusual

This week should be the busiest of the year—after a fashion, Rhuthun/Ruthin-style, of course. That is no longer so. 

Trefor Jones offered an order retrieval service

Spending the day at work but doing so at home overlooking the estate spine road here and it actually could've been Christmas Day, with few cars and fewer pedestrians. 

Fineline

In town itself, I expected Rhuthun yesterday to rewind to March and to be emptier than after the four minute warning but instead I was surprised. There were clusters of people about on the Square and a number of shops were actually open, even on a Monday, albeit to handle the potential for click/order & collect. Yes, unlike the previous two lockdowns, click & collect is now acceptable no matter your business. Rhuthun businesses probably had no option, given the importance of this week. But, it has to be said, the click & collect was still in the minority. And, of course, hairdressers usually closed on Mondays will continue to be closed all week. So, in all, the town still gave the impression of being closed. This is exactly as the Welsh government had hoped.

A different tack at Siop Nain...

Meanwhile, a combination of four days before Christmas Day and the threat of Brexit- and virus-induced shortages resulted in Tesco's car park being fuller than the Clwyd in spate (and, ironically, the Clwyd was pretty busy today, thanks to last week's & the weekend's deluges). Imagine how it would've been had we not had Alsi. There was approximately half the number parked in Aldi than Tesco.  

... and one of the few to put up closure signs

The litmus test, of course, is lavatory paper and, guess what, there were gaps in the Tesco shelves but we are still a long way from Andrex melt down.

Update 22/12/2020: Tesco has announced that a number of products will henceforward be limited: eggs, soaps and wipes; and, surprise, lavatory paper.