liveaboard

Tuesday, March 24.

It's very quiet out there.
At the intermarche, staff is wearing gloves but not masks. Customers do as they like, most wear gloves. Some masks.
Shop is limited to some odd number like 57 shoppers at a time. There was no wait when I was there today.
The security guy now at the entrance keeps count [supposedly] and squirts a little disinfectant on the hands of everyone going in.

No shortages of anything was observed. Rolled oats are back in stock. I even bought kitchen gloves, but they had no large ones.
That's normal; large kitchen gloves are always rare. I suspect men don't usually wear them.

Pharmacies have their shutters down or the doorways blocked and are dealing through a little window. I was asked to phone in my order next time, so they could have it prepared and minimize people waiting outside.

After shopping in town, drove back to our local post office to find it closed; sign says use the one back in town.
I guess that's to maximize crowding there.

Fuel price is down 6 or 8 cents per liter.

I saw a few tourists with backpacks; yesterday a rental car with 3 young people stuffed inside went past, towards the beach.
Please share observations + experiences on this thread.

Loafing Along

Lidl Olhao today - couple in front of me tried to go in the store, security guy refused to let the two of them in together, so woman went in on her own. Delayed my entrance as the guy discussed it endlessly with the secuirty guard buytotherwise no problem , about 10 or so people in the store all on a one out, one in basis tightly controlled.
Staff nearly all wearing gloves no other form of protection, customers mixed , gloves and masks , gloves only or nothing.
No shortage of anything , shopped quickly and out.
Been my experience generally for the last few days no stock problems, mixed precautions. Pharmacy operating only through "Night flap" , another one with a counter at the door , no one inside at all , newsagent/tobacconist definitely only one in the shop at a time as is local baker and butcher.
My feeling is people being incredibly responsible everyone seems to respect social distance rule with no hassle.

macliam

How many years have you lived in Portugal?

My BiL helps with the housework, but rubber gloves? Never!!
Hard to be macho in pink marigolds!!

macliam

Good to know...... SWMBO had to speak to Ambiolhao a few days back about a reported drip from our water meter (she's not there). "No problem, we'll get someone to see to it", she was told. "But we can't say when, due to the circumstances". We're anticipating some time in 2025.
In the Alentejo, the clock is ticking on EDP replacing our "luz da rua"..... coming up to three months now. Two neighbours also have blown lights..... in the "cú de Judas" and they're both over 70.....

liveaboard

I use them when I clean with ammonia solution; and a full face shield if working overhead. That stuff is nasty, but it sure does work.

I'm not a large man but I always found it hard to find simple cleaning gloves that weren't far, far too small.

macliam

SWMBO is the other way around, she uses surgical-type gloves as whe can rarely find a pair small enough.

It's the curse of the "medium", which fits nobody!!

Red Eric

Just a small comment on this from your post. By and large I agree and certainly the PM and the President have both praised the response of the Portuguese public so far but ...

It may vary a bit from place to place and obviously large cities are going to have circumstances and problems which don't apply so much in less densely populated areas well served with well stocked shops.

The authorities did intervene over the weekend in the Póvoa de Varzim / Vila do Conde areas, which had attracted large numbers of strollers on a particularly pleasant spring day - they were all dispersed and the seafronts cordoned off.

One of the biggest problems is going to be trying to keep family members living in different households separate. Families tend to be quite close-knit here and there's a lot of calling round / spending Sunday lunchtime together / grandparents looking after their grandchildren while the parents work etc etc and that seems to be carrying on a bit if my neighbours are anything to go by. Quite a lot, really. There's definitely an awareness that it's supposed to be off limits but there's the "what am I supposed to do?" aspect weighing heavily on grandparents who are in this position. Hard habits to break.

Also up here there's a lot of the small mercearia / bar places which attract regular clientele - not exactly cafes and not so visible as the esplanadas in towns but a lot of them have a bit of outside space where knots of people gather to chat over a drink or a coffee and a couple of those near me seemed to be carrying on as though nothing out of the ordinary was happening throughout last week. I shouldn't think it's unique to my neighbourhood.

wellinever

Gotta be better than here in my local Sainsburys here in the UK.........second day I have been, still no tea, no beer, no porridge, no paracytomol, no bleach, problay a lot more stuff missing but that was al I needed, so came out with nothing...
Queue for the over 70s this morning,(priority for over 70s first hour) shambolic, people all within 2 foot from each other, all around the door before opening, and all you have to limit entrance is some 10 year old standing at the door saying, thats 35 vulnerable, 35 vulnerable and so on. The shop was more full than I see it on a normnal day pre crisis......no gloves, no masks, business as usual as far as I could see.......I think I made the wrong decision in returning to the UK !!!
When I ask someone to stand 2 mtrs away from me, they had no idea what 2 mtrs was !!! Hells bells, no chance. And of course all of these wewre over 70 !!!!!

Loafing Along

Yes I think you did - our baker / café across the street admits one person at a time. Still sells coffee but in a takeaway cup and you have to go outside to drink it .

ouriquejan

Did the Pingo run in Ourique this morning. 15 minutes in the queue, nice distance between everyone. Some wearing gloves, some masks. I cleaned the trolley before we use it. No sanitsier, no offer of it or gloves, but we were given two tickets by the security guard. No idea why.

No garlic - and I use it a lot - no ginger, but all the other fruit and veg was plentiful.

No chickens, although they were bringing them out and shelves for jars and tins of chick peas etc were rather bare. No charcoal and no firelights.

A plastic barrier between cashier and customer and there is a new machine to accept the Poupa Mais card, so the cashier only has to hand you the receipt and the little stickers.

BillBullock

Lidl in Olhão yesterday was well stocked with everything and the experience was exceptionally good. I was out with a full trolley in less than 30 mins. Got home so early, I caught the wife out! No, only joking.

Ajmandon

Careful Bill ...........too quick and a "what is all the fuss about attitude" and you'll be designated permanently to shopping duty!

toots sweet

This morning went to local Continente(smaller Modelo).Mostly for fresh fruit,bread,milk ,water. Seemed to be letting more people in than last week and it felt more stressful. Customers were not following the 2 metre rule. Not standing behind lines put there by the shop.Isles full of pallets for shelf filling.OH had to tell someone to get behind the line at the till , should be someone from the shop to tell them this.Cashiers behind screen now,wearing gloves.No sanitisers prior to entering shop.. No shortages,just a few things unavailable of little importance. Not looking forward to this. Rather be at home!

macliam

SWMBO went to Pingo Doce. Lines were well laid out, but mostly ignored, security guy was doing nothing but ready to hand out "senhas" if things got too busy.

Woman walked straight in front of her and talked to a guy in the queue, then tried to stay...... picked on the wrong cookie. Forced to move, she stood 50cm from SWMBO talking into her mobile.SWMBO manouevered trolley beteen them and woman got the message.

Inside, people were nowhere near 1m apart, let alone 2m..... most things were in stock, but the majority of the shoppers appeared to be younger couples enjoying their time off work. No doubt they'd be off to the beach if possible.

SWMBO spent €100 and bought most of what she needed for a good while.... she said the experience was "stressful".

zoff

You can order from Intermarche online and pickup at the store. I did it yesterday at the Lagoa-Carvoeiro store and it all went very smoothly. I picked up at the Drive section, outside in the back of the store, where there were only the two employees, wearing face shields, that helped with my order.