Article by Will Kinsella

In uncertain times established orders can find themselves turned upside down. Just so, Haute has commissioned your ‘umble, volunteer delivery boy for a pharmacy to provide a working man’s perspective for the high culture community of St. Andrews.

Finding myself back south of the border with time on my hands and the horror of having to spend it all with the family, I decided to do some volunteering to get out of the house. I was aware through the news that the wider medical network was coming under increasing pressure from coronavirus and I hoped to do my own wee bit to help out. I called up two pharmacies directly and asked if they needed help to deliver prescriptions for their at-risk customers.

Being an ex-Bristol student, I have had my fair share of experience with pharmaceutical products of one kind or the other (specifically the other) although never overly indulging much myself. Certainly, one of the stranger experiences I had was playing Fifa with a “Deliveroo rider” sitting next to his bag packed full of edibles and snortable aperitifs before he pulled out and chucked a vacuum-packed brick of magic mushrooms to my flatmate as ‘a treat on the house’.

The Job:

Despite my limited experience with wheeling and dealing, I was rapidly put to work by the pharmacy. Fortunately, even a history student like myself can quickly grasp the basics. I receive a text around midday stating that help delivering will be needed, and I head over at 4pm to pick up between 5 and 10 packages. I then cycle around the local area dropping off the packages variously at private apartments, detached houses and council flats. Invariably, it is older people I am visiting and this creates the only issue I have found with my delivering.

To protect the vulnerable, I have to place the package on the floor outside their front door and then retreat so that when they come out I can maintain social distancing measures. Without fail they have all been grateful and thankful, greeting me with a smile but there is a flash in their eyes when they realise the package is sitting on the floor in front of them. For some this is no real problem but for others…. they are momentarily gorgonised and stare at it with the despair of opening up the first exam paper of the summer and realising the questions are not the ones you revised for. I must be honest, it’s normally at this point I start making a dash, too embarrassed to witness their struggle - repressing the urge to hand it directly to them.

The fashion of a delivery boy:

Trying to channel my inner Maria Gaboyan

In life, you often come across characters for whom, even when things are going well for them, things always never going quite according to plan. I am one of those people. So, when I came back down at the beginning of Spring Break and despite talk of coronavirus starting to hot up, I thought I would be back up the following weekend and packed accordingly. Obviously, things turned out differently.

This has reduced me to the sum total of six pairs of underwear, one pair of shoes and no jackets for lockdown. My clothing choices have therefore been limited but I am the captain of my fate and have persevered in the face of this true adversity. The shoes are white but slightly dirtied to provide a gentle whiff of “urbanness” to the aesthetic. This contrasts nicely with the metallic grey bike frame and the general darkness of the rest of my clothing. Note, however, the white t-shirt and socks gently helping accentuate the contrasting experience between light and dark. This is accompanied by a cap with the word ‘peachy’ emblazoned on it – apparently this means I am going through my Brandy Melville stage (I have no idea who she is)

Getting to know my local area better is also a bonus; I cycle up to and along the local heath, work my way (i.e. get lost) through one of the largest council estates in London, and get to interact with new people (from a safe distance) who I wouldn’t typically meet. It is fulfilling work. It is nice to know that I am making a difference, however small, to people’s lives in these strange times. Though this obviously pales in comparison to being able to say to my girlfriend that, “I can’t talk right now, I’m saving people’s lives.” It’s necessary to have motivations at times like now when life for all of us is in such a state of flux and limbo.

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The NHS have been overwhelmed by the 750,000 volunteer applications. Recruitment applications have been placed on hold until they have processed them, however there are many other ways you can still get involved during the pandemic: