Sunday, January 04, 2009

Let him eat cake? AyeRight gets hungry

'Flushed with the success of having food that I had ordered on-line delivered to my door from out of town supermarkets, I decided to see if I could give my money to local businesses and order supplies from them. The pavements are still slippy after recent wintry weather, and I fancied staying indoors with vitals being delivered to me.
2009 and the Internet is fairly big and growing. Each Christmas more and more of us sit in the comfort of our homes armed with a browser to hunt for on-line gifts.
No finding a parking space, no fighting your way through crowded shops, no queuing at the tills, no struggling back to your car, no wrapping your gifts and then posting them (If you can still find a Post Office). With a few humble clicks of your mouse, your chosen on-line gift is dispatched in a jiffy, even gift wrapped and the card written for you - bliss!
The first problem I encounter in my local food quest... finding a Nairn businesses that has an on-line presence. Our High Street might well be thinning in terms of what shops still have businesses run from them, but having a web site does not seem to be a priority for the few that survive.
Our two main food stores have web sites in the form of their parent companies but neither offer on-line food shopping. True if I go to Somerfields and spend over £25 I can get free delivery, but I want to order on-line. The Co-op offers some on-line items but not food, and not from the local store.
I cannot find even one of our numerous takeaway outlets with a web site. I would need to obtain a menu and phone an order through.
If I wanted to eat my hat I could order one from Bridgemill Direct, but no food. Many Nairn hotels have websites but none advertise a food delivery service.
I’m about to go hungry and spend my cash elsewhere when I find a Nairn business that sells food that I can buy on-line and have delivered -
Ashers the bakers

The downside is that I can only buy a minimum of three whisky or liqueur cakes, or forty-eight butteries, delivery is by post - I wonder how fresh the butteries might be when they arrive? But all hope is not lost, I manage to find a 2nd local food company on-line who will deliver - The Really Garlicky Company.
A whole range of garlic related products, I may smell a little after eating them but at least I won’t go hungry. Closer inspection suggests I might as their on-line shop is closed until the 7th January!
It will just have to be forty-eight butteries then unless anyone knows differently?'
Thanks for that Ayeright, and thank goodness for the supermarkets in nearby towns that bring us food if we can't get out. Without them we'd really be in trouble. Now do you think the Gurn should try and do a deal with all the town's plethora of fast-food outlets? Send in your Gurn along with your pizza order? Digital denounciation of the Highland Council along with a request for a white pudding supper?

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