Lifelines to the community
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WITH many shops closed due to the lockdown restrictions we looked at a small corner of Wick to see how business was operating.
The area around Macarthur Street is frequently busy with traffic negotiating the junction at the top of Harbour Terrace but on Thursday morning it was very quiet.
One vehicle warmly welcomed by people in the area who are self-isolating is the fish van which parks down on Smith Terrace.
Andrew Tait of Bell's Seafood, based at Scrabster, was selling sacks of locally grown potatoes as well as fish and shellfish from around the Caithness shores.
Andrew said: "Personally, I do Caithness and Sutherland but we [Bell's Seafood] also do deliveries all the way to Inverness.
"We've got two vans that serve Caithness and Calder's [Scrabster Seafoods] have two as well."
With the lockdown restrictions he said that he is happy to leave orders for customers on their doorsteps in a box so that social distancing rules are not broken.
"I've got into the habit of changing my latex gloves all the time, using hand sanitiser and cleaning surfaces with disinfectant more than ever."
Bell's, like many other small traders, is allowed to continue business but there are restrictions.
"We used to be able to go into people's houses but we don't do that now."
Graeme Doull runs Sinclair Family Butchers in Macarthur Street and has also had to adapt to the new regime.
"I think we'll end up closing the front bit of our shop and concentrate on doing a home delivery service – it's safer for us as suppliers and for the customer as well," he said.
"We do free deliveries all over Caithness and take payment over the phone by chip and pin which we introduced when this virus came along."
Graeme said the company had been inundated with orders over the past couple of weeks.
"We've got two vans and also have some volunteer drivers too who want to do something positive for the community," he said.
Though it sells selections of raw meat the company also supplies toiletries, pasta and tinned foods.
"People think of us as a butcher's but we've always been a grocer's as well and have lots of things such as different vegetables."
And for those who like to shop local they can phone in an order and pick it up from the side of the shop while maintaining social distancing guidelines.
Other businesses in the area such as Pulteneytown Pharmacy, also in Macarthur Street, have also needed to adapt and limit the number of customers entering the shop to two at a time.
There is a red noticeboard on the street which tells people not to enter the shop if they have symptoms related to coronavirus infection such as a persistent cough and high temperature.
Throughout the county and the rest of the UK there are many other small traders keeping their communities going with the basic necessities and providing a lifeline to locals.
