Thank you! She has told me that there are students who have told their parents that music is the only thing they like about school right now. For the first 4 or so weeks of in person classes, the kindergarten classes would actually start crying when music was over. Not just one or 2 kids but many of the students.
Music can touch us and heal us in ways we are just beginning to understand.
Godiva is closing all North American stores. Before the virus, Godiva had begun opening cafe shops and planned to expand. Most Godiva stores are found in malls and Covid has hit malls very hard. Malls which had had some difficulty even before covid.
Godiva will continue sales with their stores in other countries and online.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/24/business/godiva-closing-us-stores/index.html
There is a global shortage of semiconductor chips Ford needs to shut down an auto plant in Kentucky for awhile because of it. One in Germany will close for a month as well. Many other car manufactures are also having a difficult time securing chips. This stems from earlier when semiconductor manufactures switch from making auto chips during the pandemic due to idle plants.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/18/business/ford-auto-chip-shortage/index.html
Shortages were already happening before the Ever Giving got stuck in the Suez Canal. There is a serious shortage of shipping containers with ports backed up for miles. My friend took pictures from a recent visit to Los Angeles of a most unusual site. Cargo ship after cargo ship anchored off the coast waiting to be inspected and unloaded. This was not your normal cargo shipping pattern. At night the water on the coast line is now filled with ship lights surrounding Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors. You can see ships off the beach in long lines out to sea. It is a much longer process unloading cargo with the virus as dock workers work under tight Covid regulations.
So , even with the Ever Given moving again and unblocking the canal, the re-routing and delays of even more container ships worldwide is becoming a serious issue.
Even toilet paper is in peril again as the wood pulp needed for making it is often transported on shipping containers.
Many furniture companies are not expecting deliveries for months too. My parents were originally expecting a piece of furniture purchased in February to be delivered in April. It will now be September at the earliest and it is coming from Canada, not overseas. This was before the Ever Given nightmare.
When I go out, it is rarely to someplace other than a grocery store though I did go to the Dollar Tree 2 weeks ago and noticed an unusual amount of empty shelves. I have a feeling that many stores who sell seasonal products will be getting their supplies after the season or holiday has passed.
This is an odd shortage. Ketchup. The tiny packets to be exact.
Restaurant owners can't find them.
The pandemic turned many sit-down restaurants into takeout specialists, making individual ketchup packets the primary condiment currency for both national chains and mom-and-pop restaurants. Packet prices are up 13% since January 2020, and their market share has exploded at the expense of tabletop bottles, according to restaurant-business platform Plate IQ.
This explains why when I order food to go from a restaurant, I get ketchup in a tiny cup with a clear lid now.
Kraft Heinz, which makes most of the ketchup sold at retail in the U.S., has had trouble keeping up with the dramatic swings in demand after the pandemic led to restaurant closures and stay-at-home orders.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new-shortage-ketchup-cant-catch-up-11617645189
@lovendures I always felt like those packets (while handy) were not sustainable from an environmental standpoint. Not that the plastic cups are any different but can't we assume that unless someone asks for ketchup that they probably have a bottle in their fridge somewhere? Or is that just a "my household" thing?
Toilet paper shortages soon the horizon again? Maybe.
Blame it on a lack of shipping containers to ship the wood bulk.
Toilet paper shortages soon the horizon again? Maybe.
Battlestar Galactica had it right. All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again. ?.
There is a shortage of boba.
Even boba cups. Prices for both are going through the roof.
It was first felt on the west coast and is evident in Phoenix and growing throughout the nation. I love boba. Difficult to have a boba shop without boba.
I would expect anything tapioca related might become scarce.
Maybe lots of things form Asia really. Those shipping containers are really backed up in west coast ports.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/dining/2021/04/17/boba-shortage-arizona/7054885002/
Some old friends and a few new ones were added to the shortage list.
Chicken Wings
Boba (expected through summer, most stores out now)
Oat Milk
Staff
https://www.eatthis.com/news-fast-food-chain-shortages-april-2021/
Computer Chip Shortage ( to last through MOST of 2021, YIKES)
This is effecting new car builds.
https://motorillustrated.com/chip-shortages-to-last-through-most-of-2021/75165/
I can imagine Key and Peele making a comedy sketch about entitled white people getting distraught over a shortage of boba and oat milk.
@lovendures I heard tonight on the news there will be a shortage of availability of rental cars. Reportedly Avis, Hertz, Enterprise etc got rid of a lot of cars in their fleets last year and have not new replacements in stock. Folks were advised to reserve early and watch their dates. Expected to go through the end of the year.
Propane has been out at met Walgreens for months now. They still have a sign on the door saying they are temporarily out. That is a long time.
Some of my "red" friends are just waking up to the fact that it is taking a long time to get items or to order things.
Their comments I recently noticed on social media-
"OMG! La-Z- Boy says it will take 6 months to get a new sofa. It must be the Suez canal blockage!"
( Ummm no! Actually, this type of delay happened way before Suez my friend. It just didn't help matters. Did you not know of the shipping contain issues on the west coast? They can't get in all the materials to make the sofas right now...)
"OMG! My oven broke and it will be 6 months before the part comes in for a replacement!!! WTF? Am I going to need to use my conviction oven for everything now?"
(Seriously! This has been an issue form months! What news source are you reading/ watching to not know about the microchip and electronics shortage?")
"Wow! I have to wait a year for my new home to be built?!?!"
( "Look at it this way, you will make money on it because building materials are going through the roof. Lock in your price now and it will be worth more in a year. The price of lumber alone has nearly quadrupled since last year. You might not even be able to get it built in a year at the rate things are going.")
Yes, I am surprised by the shortages I notice sometimes, but we have been warned for MONTHS!! This isn't going away anytime soon.
@lovendures the drain pump on our dishwasher is on its last leg (the dishwasher is only a couple of years old) and when I went online to see if I could cut corners and at least get the part before calling a friend for the repair (It has a warranty through Home Depot but I've done enough of those before to know I'm going to pay for the repair regardless of what that piece of paper says), it appears to be one of those things that is backed up for months. Right now I'm actually kind of enjoying doing dishes by hand - it's been years. I know they say you use more water that way but I have a system. I'll get the dishwasher fixed once I'm fully back at work in the fall, but I'm extremely grateful we bought a new stove, refrigerator, and chest freezer all at the same time about 8 months before the pandemic began!
It is certainly easier to do dishes than try to figure out a work around for any of the other things. Good job!