OT: People wearing facemasks while travelling in a car !

[Jimk]

Wtf are you doing ? Bathing in it?

[Andrew]

Noticed a car passing, while I was on foot to Sainsburys this PM, where the driver and front seat passenger were both wearing facemasks.

Have they not RTFM and realised that the car will have a 'recirculate' button so that no outside air is admitted ?.

No bog rolls, aspirin, paracetamol or powdered milk in Sainsbury, whereas Tesco still had some stocks of all those, plus quite a few tins of condensed milk (the gooey sugary stuff).

[John_j]

Most likely they realise that when moving from one stop to the next there isnt a lot of point taking the masks off.

[Cursitor Doom]

Bit of unfortunate timing on the part of the police who are now live-testing their facial recognition cameras.

[David]

Worried about each other?

[Brian Reay]

You?d hope, after all the advice re masks, people would realise just how pointless they are in most cases.

Just watched the TV news.

The panic buying has now led to at least one retailer imposing limits on certain items. The one I noticed was milk- 5 cartons. That is a perfectly normal amount for a weekly shop, it would be more for a large family. So, those who are panicking are now inconveniencing the sensible people who, rather than doing a normal weekly shop etc and getting what they need, will have to return to get more milk ( and possibly other items) due entirely to others panicking.

I wonder, what will these panicking people use as a trigger to go into isolation? Being infected? The symptoms are flu like, we?ll say more serious if it makes you feel better, even dreadful if you must. Now, I?ve had flu in the past. The last thing you feel like is food. But, these panicking people have lots of food, not especially appealing from what is being bought but that won?t matter as they feel like sh*t and food is the last thing on there mind. Perhaps they plan to ?sit it out?. Locked indoors for how long? A week, a month, 6 months? Then, they are probably Jeremy Kyle addicts so they can watch daytime TV.

The ?gooey? condensed milk is ideal for making Dulce de Leche. * It takes a long time, at least if done properly. Ideal for those who have panicked and locked themselves in and have time to kill between spreading doom and gloom.

[Bob Eager]

Specifically, I believe it was UHT milk - not fresh milk. We get through about 20-25 pints a week of fresh milk.

[Thomas Prufer]

Or takes 30-45 minutes if done improperly, i.e. in a pressure cooker.

Optionally remove label, cook sealed can 30-40 min., let cool on its own.

This last is important: cooling the pressure cooker with cold water leads to the can being hot inside, and under pressure. Opening the pressure cooker could cause the can to burst, spraying hot caramelized milk goo around.

This would require lots of toilet paper to clean...

Thomas Prufer

[Brian Reay]

A slow cooker is supposedly a good way - it saves having to watch the water level. Pop the can(s) in on their sides ( no labels), cover with water as usual, ?cook? for 8 hrs on low. Carefully remove cans, leave to cool as normal etc.

It sounds promising, our slow cooker doesn?t lose much fluid ( water) during cooking so the problem of the cans becoming exposed should vanish. I bought some cans in France last summer ( I was told they made particularly good D-e-L ) but haven?t tried them yet. Perhaps I?ll use a couple to try this method rather than the normal one.

The good thing is, once cooked, the D-e-L keeps as longs as the original milk in the can, provided it hasn?t unsealed, so processing a few a once doesn?t mean you need to eat them.

[Brian Gaff (Sofa 2)]

Also what about Chicken soup? Why is this the one soup that is out of stock?

Yes face masks in a car are probably good to protect the other people inside from your own ailments. I don't think anyone is suggesting that this can be caught using a car even if you are in a traffic jam. However how effective will it be if you sneeze while wearing it. You then need to remove it to clear up the mess and that is when you get it on your hands and may pass it on to others in the vehicle. I do not see many cars with basins in them. Brian

[Roger Hayter]

This surely is where the toilet roll and hand sanitiser comes in; is there also a run on sealable disposal bags?

[Brian Reay]

Traditionally, chicken soup is said to have medicinal properties.

Interestingly, there was a report of some research which found something in traditionally made * chicken soup ( I suspect not the canned or powdered stuff) which does have some medicinal use. I forgot the details and it wasn?t a dramatic benefit, certainly not related to the current fuss.

• the traditional chicken soup which is generally claimed to have medicinal properties is nothing like what you get in tins etc. It is a ?clear soup?, usual served with just a few vegetables in it, sometimes a special dumpling called a Matza Ball.

I recall reading ( or perhaps it was a foodie programme) that the most popular tinned soup in the UK was Tomato. I think chicken was second. This was sometime back, it could be tastes have changed.

[Brian Reay]

Haven?t you heard of (proper) wipes Roger? They come in resealable packs, even scented, anti- nasty, ...

There are all kinds of them, for personal hygiene to car dashboards.

[nightjar]

I have plenty of bog rolls, although that is nothing to do with the virus. My partner likes one particular brand, but not many shops carry it. Rather than have her dragging me around shops looking for it, I now buy it online. However, the minimum purchase is six x 9 roll packs and half of the last purchase is still in my spare room.

Paracetamol is not a problem. My partner has it on prescription in boxes of 100 at a time. That is a prescription only quantity, so isn't likely to run out.

[Brian Reay]

Hopefully not. However, I suspect that if this drags on, the panic will spread to prescription drugs as it did with Project Fear.

[Roger Hayter]

My comment was somewhat tongue in cheek. (Anyway, didn't you know that wipes were double-plus-ungood from the environmental POV?)

[Spike]

Oh, we didn't realise you were a bioweapons expert.

Like you just did, you mean, Corporal Jones?

[Brian Reay]

For a family, that isn't a lot.

When our 3 daughters were at home, we'd probably use at least that- a mix of skimmed and semi-skimmed.

[Bob Eager]

There are 3 and a bit of us (the bit is No. 1 son who drops in quite a bit as he works nearby). Two of us have cereal, lots of coffee and tea, milk based sauces, etc.

[Andrew]

30 years ago, when working in Fiji, I learnt that Indian sweets, which used to take a week to make from scratch, only took a day to make using condensed milk.