Like the title says. Jeezums, we’re all preparing for a “4 day lockdown”. Pudong, the newer area of Shanghai east of Huangpu River, locked down four days ago without any warning. My friends got wind of the news in the evening. According to them, they spent hours lining up at the local stores, trying to get ahold of the basic necessities, and hauling their groceries home at around 2 am. I take comfort in the fact that these friends of mine are innate hoarders. Good luck, guys. Madness.

Tomorrow, April 1st, is the first day of the Puxi lockdown, the older area west of Huangpu, where I live, and the supposed lifting of Pudong’s. A game of lockdown tag, my my. My grocery haul, ordered from Epermarket when the Pudong lockdown started, won’t make it in time. No one is delivering anymore; it’s every man for himself. The wet market along my street has shut down (markets are always the first to close), and the sellers have taken their wares to the sidewalk (see pic above).

I think I’ve got my food stock covered, but at around 6 pm I went outside to enjoy a bit of freedom before the circus starts. I walked to the local Family Mart to see what else I could get. There were only about 2 people in there. It was a doomsday scene. Shelves were practically empty; the woman behind the counter looked dazed. I grabbed what I still could (a handful of chocolate, a bag of Oishi chips, a cheap local brand of laundry detergent and dishwashing liquid) before making my way back home.

The media say it will be over in four days. I don’t want to sound negative, but I’m taking all this with a grain of salt… call it self-preservation or a coping mechanism, but I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that it will last longer than that. I don’t trust what anyone says here, not anymore.