Falkirk district shoppers stock-piling supplies

Of course, this type of behaviour just leads to the very lack of products that they are worried about, in other words it’s a vicious circle.

My next door neighbour did discover that it was impossible to buy face masks at the weekend when he made a trip to the DIY store.

He wasn’t wanting those ones worn by dental and medical staff, but he was doing a bit of sanding and wanted the protective mask to stop inhaling all the dust.

“I couldn’t believe it Kate,” he said with a shake of his head. “I went to the place where they are normally stocked and there were none, so I had a bit look about before asking a member of staff.

“He told me that there had been a rush on them and they couldn’t keep up with demand. Do you think everyone is working indoors during this wet weather?”

I gently told him that I thought it more likely that people had bought them to escape the threat of coronavirus – even though the experts tell us they make little difference.

He walked off, shaking his head and saying perhaps he would try using a tea towel as a mask so he could get on with his project!

Stocking up is probably not something that my generation or younger folk usually think about. However, I know that at the start of every autumn, as the chilly days begin my mother always insists on going to the supermarket and buying up lots of tins.

“You never know when I might get snowed in and I don’t want to be left without,” she will say.

And every year I point out that she has me, Emma and Gary, as well as some very kind neighbours who would always ensure that she had enough to eat.

“Better to be prepared,” she will say.

Of course, I believe it’s because she grew up during the Second World War that she has this attitude. Now that’s when people really knew what it was like to go without.

I don’t think any of us who didn’t experience these dark days can really understand what it was like to live with rationing.

The amount of food people had to live on was meagre by today’s standards, but they do say that people were a lot healthier because they didn’t have lots of sugary and fatty foods.

I always say that is why my mum has such a sweet tooth – growing up without cakes, biscuits and similar treats made her want them all the more when they did become available again.

My dad used to tell a story about his mum, my old granny, who at the start of the war decided there was no way she was going to live without tea so emptied a drawer and poured all these packs in – no tea bags in those days. However, what she didn’t realise was that tea goes off, particularly when not kept in air-tight conditions, and when she went to use it her cuppa tasted vile.

She had to throw it all out!

The moral of that tale is that stock-piling is probably not such a worthwhile venture.