The photographs of empty supermarket shelves I have been sent by friends living in the kingdom of Brexitania (AKA the UK) are to me reminiscent of the scarcity of food items in groceries I found during our trip in the then recently opened-up countries of Eastern Europe. 

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The trouble is, of course, that today many of the food items found on supermarket shelves are quite the opposite of zero mileage yearned for by environmentalists. There is no such thing as out-of-season fruit and veg in so many ‘affluent’ countries. Strawberries, for example, can be purchased throughout the year.  Nothing then to look forward to in the summer….

The empty shelves in supermarkets are blamed on the shortage of goods vehicles drivers. So many of them have been pinged off the steering wheel by well-meaning government apps and so many have left the UK for fresher pastures or returned to their birthplaces where the quality of life and the cost of living have made such rapid improvements this new millennium.

What should one do to avoid the empty-shelves situation from getting worse? Start up one’s allotment over a good half of one’s suburban back garden lawn or, in our area, remove those horrible thorns and acacia trees from some part of our increasingly infested territory. Or perhaps, in the UK go to one’s nearest farm and volunteer to pick the fruit and veg left decaying because the brexitishianists have scared foreign workers away?

It’s always good to discover local market-gardening centres where one can buy fresh, wholesome veg at truly zero mileage.

It’s extraordinary that I never realised that just across from Fornoli, on the road to Calavorno on the left, there is such a local centre. It’s run by a couple and offers excellent quality produce at very decent prices. They have been running it for years and I can’t quite believe why I missed it in all the time I’ve been here.

The opening hours are mornings only and naturally the place is closed during the winter months for how could one possibly grow those strawberries in winter? In the afternoons the gentleman owner volunteers for Bagni di Lucca’s local Red Cross for, as he says, ‘I like to do my little bit for the good of the community.’ He is, of course, already doing his little bit in contributing towards the safeguard of the planet from the unnecessary pollution caused by distance fruit and veg deliveries and by selling wholesome, chemical free produce. What more could environmentalists wish? Well done to him, his family and his honest efforts.

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