Seeing red

I've just been watching the Ten O'Clock News - and realising that so far we've been seeing very little of this latest storm: some gusty wind, especially in the morning; some heavy rain in the afternoon - but right now it's not raining and there seems to be little wind of any kind. Tomorrow we're due some really strong gusts - but our situation is nothing compared to these poor folk in Brechin and the East who've been told to evacuate their houses for fear of flooding, and a woman has already died in floods. And that was appended to the plight of the people in Gaza and the horror stories of the families being slaughtered in their safe rooms - and for a week now we've heard nothing of the war in Ukraine and I'd know nothing of its progress if I didn't follow certain threads on Twitter. (I won't call it X).  What a mess.

However, apart from the third photo, of the dreary, mild, gusty morning just after 8am in my back lane as I got into the car to go shopping, none of this has any link to either my title or my other two photos.This was my seeing red moment of the day, in Morrison's. I've noticed empty spaces on the shelves at this time for a couple of weeks or so, but today I really wanted ordinary things, basic things like chicken breasts. I'd already asked if there were no boxes of figs (four sitting in a wee box) and been told they were in the cold store but unreachable; five minutes later when I asked one of the men I sort of know about chicken breasts, he told me the same. They didn't have the staff to transfer the goods to the shelves. He, however, seemed to agree with me that this was an absurd state of affairs. "Come with me..." he said.

Now I don't often follow strange men these days, but this time ... and he marched up to the blue strips of plastic stuff that screen the cold store from the shop, and cast it aside. And right enough, there were great crates, all loaded, jam-packed into this big hall all the way to the back entrance. As if consumed by rage he began hauling at the first crate, pulling it out into the store ... and another ... and another. He found some chicken, handed it to me in triumph. I don't know what happened to the crates - I left the scene, pronto.

I put the two photos on Twitter and addressed them to Morrisons - both head office and the PR people. The latter got back to me - they said they would try to do something. We'll see. But why have they not got the staff? Over-automation in the checkout area? Watch this space...

The rest of the day? Church business (not really me - more music, but I joined in). Pottering on the computer. And - wait for it - going for a walk just as the rain arrived. Only two miles, but by the time I got back my trousers were sodden and my so-called waterproof shoes had given up. My socks were squelching. But I saw two red squirrels and some lovely autumn trees and some re-invigorated floods on the road ...

And a flurry of rain has just battered the study window. I'm off.