I did the weekly shop this morning at Tesco. There were two queues. The one to the right was for the Auld Yins and to the left for anyone who did not have grey hair, or who had dyed it. I joined the queue on the right which started to move first as it was
Pensioner Hour. The queue was allowed to enter in groups of about 50 people, then stopped. We waited some more time and other people came out the shop. Another batch of about 50 was allowed in, then the queue stopped again. This reminded me of the traffic light system on long roads, were a batch of cars go through at a time, then you stop at the next set of lights. This system prevents long tailbacks. When it was my turn to enter I was amazed at how quiet and civilised it was. There was plenty of distance between shoppers and no crowded aisles. I did my usual weekly shop and was out in less than 20 minutes. The shelves were constantly being stocked and the 'stockers' never got in the way and pulled back to give space to shoppers. When I came out the Pensioners queue had finished and the same procedure was in place for the other shoppers. All credit to Tesco, Roneo Corner, Romford for organising a large crowd of people in a civilised way. I would never describe shopping as a pleasant experience but this was much better than I thought it would be.