Including today, there remain three days of the current lockdown. What will happen then? I think London will be placed in Tier 2, meaning that there will still be restrictions on our movements but there will be more freedom of action. Past experience suggests that this will result in the infection rate rising again, possibly leading to yet another lockdown.

There are hopeful indications that a vaccine will be available “soon”, and that mass vaccinations can begin. Will this finally bring the pandemic to an end? That will depend on how many people are actually vaccinated (anti-vaxers will presumably resist), how effective the vaccine is and how long its immunity effect lasts. I think we should hope for the best while preparing for the worst.

As is our wont, we set out for Sainsbury’s at about 10:45, which brings us to the store when it is open but the first rush of early customers has been absorbed.

We each had a list of items to collect. I sped off to fetch mine and then rejoined Tigger for the rest of the shopping. Today, we had no difficulty finding what we wanted. If there were empty shelves, I didn’t notice them. I hope this is not just the calm before the Brexit storm.

Vegan croissants
Photo by Tigger

I have often described our cafe breakfasts of coffee and croissants. We do like our croissants! Tigger spotted these vegan croissants in Sainsbury’s. They amused her without tempting her to buy any so I cannot say how good they are.

The scene in front of Sainsbury’s
Photo by Tigger

The road in front of Sainsbury’s is still a mess of barriers and building works. Extensive remodelling of the Angel Centre is still proceeding and a row of barriers has narrowed the roadway for traffic. I don’t know what is because of the building works and what is Sainsbury’s arrangements for regulating the flow of customers.

As usual, we walked through Chapel Market on the way home.

Chapel Market, bottom end

There is still a huge gap in the middle of the street which in “normal” times would have been filled with stalls and customers, especially this near to Christmas.

Chapel Market, top end

Most stalls were grouped at the top end. As I passed the dead fish stall, I held my breath but started breathing again too soon and received a noseful of dead-fish stink. How anyone can bear to work among that miasma of rotting flesh, I do not know. I also hold my breath when passing butchers’ shops for the same reason. I will admit that I wasn’t as sensitive before I became a vegetarian but in the decades since adopting that lifestyle, the odours given off by those places has become more and more disgusting to me. It makes me wonder how people could ever have started eating dead flesh in the first place.

Christmas decorations

I noticed that the Council has installed flashing lights on the lampposts as Christmas decorations. Unfortunately, because of the brightness of the daylight, the photo cannot show the lights or their movement. Perhaps we’ll manage to catch them one day after dark.

Christmas trees

There was at least one sign that Christmas is coming: this large stall entirely filled with Christmas trees. Trade was not as brisk as one might have expected. Perhaps it will pick up after December 2nd.

Christmas tree wrapper
Photo by Tigger

I expect you have seen these devices. Around the outside of the drum is netting. A Christmas tree is passed through the centre of the drum and is wrapped in netting to make it easier to transport.

This might be a good selling point

One of the downsides of having a real tree for Christmas is that they tend to make a mess by dropping their foliage. According to the notice, these trees do not shed their needles. If this is true then that is likely to be a good selling point.

We of course stopped at Mercer & Co to pick up coffee on the way home.

After all, a ritual can still be a pleasure even if it is a ritual!