Our home life in London during the lockdown

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A lot of people seemed to have become panicked before the lockdown
started – many local supermarkets were running out of toilet papers, pasta,
bread and kitchen rolls. However, things seemed to get settled after the
lockdown started.





The shops which sell essential things – food, medicines, banks – were
allowed to open.





And, we are lucky – there are 13 shops including Morrisons and
Wilkinson are open and they are all within 5 minutes walk. All these shops
limit a number of customers enter at a time and ask them to buy certain
number s of per item – 2 packets of toilet papers per person. The stock of
toilet papers, milk and kitchen rolls came back shortly after the lockdown. I
was able to buy pasta at Morrisons at the beginning of April.











However, at the mid of April, just after the Easter, Mark found
that flour was running out at Morrisons. I went to the European Deli on the
shopping mall. Shop staff didn’t seem to understand self-raising flour; I
explained that the self-raising flour is the one used for baking cakes. They
showed packets; having seen the image of cakes in the packets, I said to them
that this was what I wanted to buy. I found that a lot of people started trying
baking cakes, bread at home whilst being restricted going out; thus local
people bought plain and self-raising flour and made the shelves empty.











We bake cakes over the weekend – speedy fruit cake, oaty loaf cake,
lemon cake, bara brith, hot tea fruit cake – and we have baked bread &
butter pudding today, 17 May. Mark has been a very good assistant: he is good
at making a layer on the baking tin. This is important as it allows me to
concentrate on creaming butter & sugar to make the base and mixing the
ingredients. We’re baking together to share our happiness.

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Photos

Ukrainian pickle
Continental Deli sells a wide variety of European snacks, pickles, processed meats, cheese and pastas

Mark works in the kicthcn
He is always helping me bake a cake.

Bread & butter pudding
On 17 May, we prepared and baked 'bread & butter pudding' together.