Non-grocery shopping

[MinnieTimperley]

Only in New Zealand do your reading glasses actually catch fire. It's something to do with low sun in the southern hemisphere and the speed they  read.

[thenoise]

A few blus/DVDs, second hand of course, couple of paperbacks and some toys for the baby. My wife has been buying makeup, either for me or for zoom not sure.
I'm holding back being too frivolous as our weekly Sainsburys shop has doubled in price and continues to creep up. If this gets much worse we'll be spending most of our weekly excess money on basic food, which isn't great when you have a baby that outgrow all his clothes every six weeks.

[Dewt]

We were allowed to shop online in the second week of lockdown from local businesses for essential items so I was able to replace my microwave (it caught fire) but I also took the opportunity to order an espresso machine.  It was listed as an essential item so what the heck.

I didn't know online shopping was restricted at all, was this just a NZ thing?

[Dex Sawash]

Wish? Are orders leaving China now?

Where's a good UK-based place to get decent socks? Nowt fancy, just a multipack of 5 or 10 equal pairs of black cotton socks. I shop for these things like a bloke. Also I'm too lazy to sort my socks into pairs so it's best if they all look identical. I have been wearing the lairy socks that lie forgotten in the back of the sock drawer but that's only because my more sober pairs are all getting full of holes.

Might go crazy and throw out all my current socks and replace them with new ones, woo hoo.

I got some stuff from china a month ago (in usa) not sure they stopped shipping.

[Uncle TechTip]

I'm sure asda will sell you socks over the internet.

[QDRPHNC]

Things I have ordered online since all this started:

• A nice fountain pen (a stainless steel Kaweco Supra) from a local family-owned pen store . Also got a bottle of Noodler's Air Corp Blue-Blank ink with it, which is lovely.
• Lucky Tiger moustache wax
• Weed
• Weed oil
• Weed teabags
• Weed cookies
• The Shining 4k
• Pinaud Clubman aftershave
• Boss VE1
• No-name FM transmitter

[Birdie]

I didn't know online shopping was restricted at all, was this just a NZ thing?

We could only shop online from local retailers for essential items (eg food) and then more items were classed as  essential like heaters, appliances, basic clothing.  Then at level three all retailers were allowed to sell online.

There was nothing to stop people from ordering directly from overseas though.

[Birdie]

Only in New Zealand do your reading glasses actually catch fire. It's something to do with low sun in the southern hemisphere and the speed they  read.

We read from right to left too.

[Braintree]

I bought a customised Iceland Eurovision 2020 jumper https://dadifreyr.com/

For about £95.

[Fr.Bigley]

I bought a customised Iceland Eurovision 2020 jumper https://dadifreyr.com/

For about £95.

That thing is pure unadulterated evil.

[Blue Jam]

I'm sure asda will sell you socks over the internet.

D'oh... I live in a city centre and all the supermarkets round here are little Sainsbury's Central/Tesco Metro-type affairs so I forget big supermarkets actually sell clothes and things.

Just ordered from Tu by Saino's because they do Click and Collect to the store round the corner from my house, and they've currently got 25% off everything, and they're dirt cheap as it is. Two five packs of plain black socks for £1.87 each and one pair of slippers for £5.25. And to think I was going to order these things from John Lewis... cheers UncleTechTip!

[Blue Jam]

• A nice fountain pen (a stainless steel Kaweco Supra) from a local family-owned pen store .
  

Ooooooh, I've got a green plastic KaWeCo Sport with a gold pocket clip. Got it for Christmas. Writes like a dream. Was thinking of getting the Sport in brass but a stainless steel one would be less likely to turn my hands green. Excellent choice sir.

[QDRPHNC]

Ooooooh, I've got a green plastic KaWeCo Sport with a gold pocket clip. Got it for Christmas. Writes like a dream. Was thinking of getting the Sport in brass but a stainless steel one would be less likely to turn my hands green. Excellent choice sir.

It is totally gorgeous. Has a removable middle section that can shrink it to the size of a Lilliput, so it's like you're getting two Kaweco models in one.

[Blue Jam]

Very nice. My KaWeCo is my werk pen, for my lab book, which is why I got the plastic one. I've also got a Cross pen which was a gift but that's too nice to use at werk.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Things I have ordered online since all this started:

• A nice fountain pen (a stainless steel Kaweco Supra) from a local family-owned pen store . Also got a bottle of Noodler's Air Corp Blue-Blank ink with it, which is lovely.
• Lucky Tiger moustache wax
• Weed
• Weed oil
• Weed teabags
• Weed cookies
• The Shining 4k
• Pinaud Clubman aftershave
• Boss VE1
• No-name FM transmitter

• Desk & Chair from Ikea
• Component Cable for Wii
• Yeast for Homebrew
• Bung for Homebrew
• Weed (twice)
• Jogging Bottoms
• Preordered an LP (not really wanting to add strain by buying records but it was starting to sell out on preorder)
• A couple of memory sticks (kept meaning to buy one and the one I used died when trying to fix a laptop)
• The 1999 UK Hip Hop film Rage on VHS (I couldn't find it on any other medium, this is a sample copy sent to rental shops)
• Homebrew kit (not yet arrived)

I think that's it. Obviously not all essential although mostly related to increasing my comfort during this time. Nearly all came through the post as well rather than a separate trip for a courier and only the sticks were from Amazon.

[QDRPHNC]

My weed just arrived. Got this thing, which I've never used before, the battery part was only $13, and the pod on top is full of 45% THC oil. Girlfriend says it might make my lung collapse, but I'm sure it'll be fine.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I need a new grinder, I've got a shitty plastic one that i've stood on and broke a corner of the edge off, but it also chokes up and then you have to scrape it with a knife and then the scratches get choked up.

I notice my scummy corner shop with the lads smoking weed outside seems to have replaced its rack of basic fruit and veg (onions, apples not much else) with a glass case full of bongs and paraphernalia.

[ollyboro]

She managed to get 192 packets of Cheese Wotsits for a fiver. Reckon I'll end up with a slightly powdery bright orange cock.

[Dewt]

Also got a bottle of Noodler's Air Corp Blue-Blank ink with it, which is lovely.

I got

[QDRPHNC]

Very nice!

I'm loving the colour of the Noodlers, takes a long time to dry though.

[flotemysost]

Went a bit crazy in the first month and ordered a poncey chair and desk from Wayfair so I can work from my room without developing lumbar issues, I think that's my most extravagant purchase. It does have the benefit of turning my room into an assault course with no floor space, meaning I get a daily workout (climbing over furniture) without having to go outside.

I've also bid farewell to seeing my rental security deposit again, and have put up a couple of framed posters from The Gallery Wall and a hanging plant holder from Etsy. The plant is already dying.

I definitely don't need any new clothes but I'm tempted to order a box from these guys (unsold stock from clothing factories in Bangladesh, with profits going to the workers): https://loststock.co/

I got

These are gorgeous. Really want to get back into drawing again somehow, but no idea where to start and ordering a load of nice gear for something that might turn out shit feels a bit cavalier.

[Dewt]

I can't draw, I just like to write sometimes in a slow, considered way with nice ink. Even though my handwriting is hideous

[Fr.Bigley]

I like to draw my own conclusions..the artwork is shite.

[buttgammon]

I need a new grinder, I've got a shitty plastic one that i've stood on and broke a corner of the edge off, but it also chokes up and then you have to scrape it with a knife and then the scratches get choked up.

Same here. I bought an awesome magnetic one in Amsterdam last year but I got paranoid about getting stopped in customs for the husks of weed that were embedded in the teeth so I chucked it in a bin in Sarphatipark before going to the airport. I have two here, and they're both shit in different ways.

[Cuntbeaks]

I need a new grinder, I've got a shitty plastic one that i've stood on and broke a corner of the edge off, but it also chokes up and then you have to scrape it with a knife and then the scratches get choked up.

I notice my scummy corner shop with the lads smoking weed outside seems to have replaced its rack of basic fruit and veg (onions, apples not much else) with a glass case full of bongs and paraphernalia.

I've never used a grinder, I just clip the herb with a pair of scissors inside a film canister. Unfortunately the lid of the canister has split and rendered it useless; I've been using it for over 14 years. This therefore may be the time to take the plunge into a whole new world of grinder wonder.

I don't tend to puff heavily and can get by with clipping a gr or two at any one time. I always thought a grinder demanded more herb to make it work properly.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I've never used a grinder, I just clip the herb with a pair of scissors inside a film canister. Unfortunately the lid of the canister has split and rendered it useless; I've been using it for over 14 years. This therefore may be the time to take the plunge into a whole new world of grinder wonder.

I don't tend to puff heavily and can get by with clipping a gr or two at any one time. I always thought a grinder demanded more herb to make it work properly.

That sounds long tbh.

Given the price of a shit grinder is nearly a fiver, and my  ~£10 shit tier electric spice/coffee grinder can do anything I throw at it, including cinnamon sticks that are like big bits of bark, I'm tempted to just buy one of them.

I thought about just lobbing weed in the one I have but I reckon it'll be like vaping mustard gas.

[Blue Jam]

I can't draw, I just like to write sometimes in a slow, considered way with nice ink. Even though my handwriting is hideous

My handwriting is atrocious in ballpoint but passable with a fountain pen. I love them because I'm just used to them.

Also ballpoint pens are just utterly unlovely objects.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Same here. I bought an awesome magnetic one in Amsterdam last year but I got paranoid about getting stopped in customs for the husks of weed that were embedded in the teeth so I chucked it in a bin in Sarphatipark before going to the airport. I have two here, and they're both shit in different ways.

When I scrape all the shit out of it with a craft knife I marvel at how much of it there is, enough to fill my vape at least once, so I do that and then get a whiff of plastic, of which there almost certainly is in amongst everything and get paranoid.

But it can't be worse than soap bar, can it?

[Cuntbeaks]

That sounds long tbh.

Given the price of a shit grinder is nearly a fiver, and my  ~£10 shit tier electric spice/coffee grinder can do anything I throw at it, including cinnamon sticks that are like big bits of bark, I'm tempted to just buy one of them.

I thought about just lobbing weed in the one I have but I reckon it'll be like vaping mustard gas.

I tried a spice grinder once many years ago, there was a lot of collateral wastage as it coated the insides, but that would be offset if you used it going forward.

The result was like candy floss or fibreglass insulation, so depending on the size of the chamber in your vape, it may be too puffy to use effectively.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I tried a spice grinder once many years ago, there was a lot of collateral wastage as it coated the insides, but that would be offset if you used it going forward.

The result was like candy floss or fibreglass insulation, so depending on the size of the chamber in your vape, it may be too puffy to use effectively.

Hmm good point. I've got a dynavap and a pax clone, the latter does prefer as thin as you can get but not sure about the former. My spice grinder is full of, well spice, and needs a slap complete battering to start up, so I wouldn't even be risking buyers remorse if it didn't work.