THE regular way of shopping has been thrown out of the window by the COVID-19 pandemic.

So things were very different when I popped to a Barrow supermarket over the weekend.

Upon arrival at Tesco Extra I could see a queue had formed outside and snaked around the side of the building. Supermarket staff were keeping it in order and making sure people kept a good distance away from one another.

The staff member in charge of the queue said: “Some people had been aggrieved by the queuing but most had been understanding about the situation and have queued peacefully.”

Social distancing was very much adhered to.

The first thing that struck me on entering the store was the bulk-buy section at the beginning of the shop. I am not sure if that was always there or not, or whether this has been installed to help fight against panic buying.

There were less people inside than you would normally see on a Saturday.

And when browsing what was on offer, there were particular items that were low on stock - some obvious, some not so much.

Toilet roll, tinned goods, soap, flour, soap, baby wipes, tissues, rice, dried pasta, oil, long life milk and tea bags were all low in stock or completely gone.

Luckily the only item on that list I needed was hand soap and I managed to find some lovely pink gin-scented stuff in the end.

Shoppers were doing so with caution, some even wearing protective masks. It was like a weird apocalypse film due to this sight combined with the eerie silence.

I heard one man express his disbelief at the price of bread being £2, although I am not sure it was cheaper than that before the coronavirus outbreak.

One customer questioned where the pasta was with the reply from a drained-sounding shop assistant being "there is only a little bit left, but on the next aisle".

When paying I asked the checkout worker what he thought of it all.

He said: “It has been hectic at the back end of last week but now that they have introduced measures to reduce the people coming in it has been much easier.”

He wished me all the best and I responded in kind.