What we might call the home based frontline – the supermarkets – are having a variable time of it in the current circumstances.

The ludicrous panic buying led to a huge spike in actual retail sales over the last few weeks, but has resulted in an awful lot of empty shelves now, even for essentials like eggs. (What are all these hens doing with their downtime?)

Those of us confined to barracks are reliant on the kindness of friends and neighbours, which is happily not in short supply, and is not a situation where, as a supplicant, you are likely to put in an order for five loaves and assorted fishes.

Passing strange, though, the things which have suddenly become like, er, hen’s teeth.

READ MORE: Ruth Wishart: The patter of paws proved too much for me to resist

Like chicken. Can’t imagine we usually imported much of that, and it’s not as if the local ones are apparently too busy laying to join the food chain.

And then there’s avocados – it’s not just trendy London millennials who go for them. Not even available on my online order, and not found by anyone I know till Tuesday morning, when my uncaped crusader from along the road left two on my doorstep. This will not be forgotten, good sir.

The fact is that whatever you have in your tin cupboard, the current limitation on shopping around makes you ever more desperate for fresh food.

Which brings me to Waitrose, and the news that their Helensburgh store is to be taken over by Morrisons.

READ MORE: Ruth Wishart: Social media turns to battleground over gender ID

I’ve never shopped at the latter, but I have a pal who does and likes it a lot. She reports they are no slouches in the wine department, which is excellent news.

More importantly, at the weekend they announced they were giving £10 million worth of produce to help boost dwindling food bank stocks.

I’ve always been of the opinion that the ethos of a company is set by those running the show, and if the food bank story is emblematic of Morrisons’ retail style then it’s a heartening start to a new era, though I’m still puzzled why a Waitrose store which always seemed to be stowed out was unable to make a commercial success.

READ MORE: Catch up with all the latest Helensburgh and Lomond news headlines here