Freak weather in the North Atlantic is usually all that can stop Grimsby鈥檚 hardy fish merchants gathering in droves to buy the cod and haddock that comes through the famous port鈥檚 market.
Then it may only be a few sailings from Iceland - a lull for a week or two at very most, before returning by the box load.
Even then overland supply from Scotland and Norway can fill some of the voids on the 25-year-old 鈥榥ew鈥 quayside facility, as it is still referred to, such is the length of the tradition in the town.
But one wet market in the Far East blew in a new challenge to daily rituals that are ingrained in the fabric of Grimsby鈥檚 proud industry.
鈥淭he original shutdown of the market was something we never anticipated, but we had to follow government advice,鈥 chief executive Martyn Boyers said.
鈥淎t the time it was open ended, we didn鈥檛 know what was going to happen.鈥 The announcement on March 23, 2020 came on the back of three successive weeks of storms that left the market without the Icelandic catch - Ciara, Dennis and Jorge had wreaked havoc making it the worst start to the year in his living memory.
As Covid-19鈥檚 emergence was noted, strict visitor bans had been put in place - just weeks after hosting Boris Johnson and the media entourage on the final throes of the 2019 General Election campaign.
But it was his national address that really made all sit up and listen - and stay at home for April, once that week鈥檚 sales had been done.
鈥淎bout five weeks into the original lockdown, just after the May bank holiday, we started back, as we were working on a pre-sold basis instead of having the fish auction,鈥 Mr Boyers said. While the food industry was an essential sector - key workers all - customers of the fish and chip shops the nation over were marooned at home.
鈥淥ne of the enduring features of the fishing industry and the community around the docks is the ability to change and adapt and get on with things in the face of adversity,鈥 he said as a route to the dinner table was re-established.
鈥淲e鈥檙e living through history, people will look back on this in years to come, and the resilience shown has been great.
鈥淭ake-aways could continue, and you think take-away and you think fish and chips. That opened the door, then another big boost was the direct sale.
鈥淕rimsby has a huge concentration of mobile retailers who go all the way round the country, and it is fair to say all have done terrifically well as they have had a captive audience - everyone was at home.
鈥淲e organised fish to come in, and that鈥檚 how we operated for seven or eight weeks. There was a lot of good will from a lot of the fish merchants and a couple of agents involved.鈥
One high, Easter, had been and gone, and the British summer and the seaside favourite was then looming.
鈥淲e got back to the familiar auction at the end of July, and we have been operating ever since,鈥 Mr Boyers said.
Eat Out To Help Out - with fish a dish that over-trades in hospitality over retail - was seen as a massive success too - though that and schools returning were the prelude to the second wave.
鈥淭here were a lot of mistakes, it was a case of dealing with the unknown, but we鈥檙e now coming out of lockdown and the economy will recover quicker here as all around are falling again,鈥 Mr Boyers said, looking across France, Germany and Italy.
鈥淪ome businesses have never done so well, others have never done so badly, and they couldn鈥檛 help it - I have huge sympathy as it was no-one鈥檚 fault.
鈥淲hen Boris Johnson came up no-one thought Brexit would take a back seat to anything, we all thought we would be preoccupied by it.
鈥淭hroughout we have kept the business going, we haven鈥檛 had any visitors for a year, we鈥檝e created our own bubble, a small team of people we are used to dealing with.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to carry on that way too. We won鈥檛 have anyone for the time being, but hopefully we will get a chance to. It is clearly something we鈥檙e going to have to live with.
鈥淲e have changed the way we have operated, reduced the amount of handing, with new procedures.鈥
Despite the masks and the metres now separating - one thing has remained true.
鈥淲e still do the traditional 鈥榮hout鈥 auction,鈥 Mr Boyers confirmed. 鈥淢asks do make it more difficult, it is not quite the same, but it is difficult to move away from. It is one of the last bastions of the tradition. It hasn鈥檛 quite got the atmosphere, there was always a buzz about the auction before and that has been lost a bit, but we鈥檙e still there.鈥
For fishmonger Emma McKeating, the buzz around the industry was still loud enough to reel her in to her spiritual home.
An award-winning counter employee with Tesco, her passion for fish saw her excel in her calling, only for the supermarket giant to close the majority of the displays well before the pandemic.
Staying with the skills she鈥檇 acquired in Stoke - you can鈥檛 get much further inland to have an ambassador of seafood - she rocked up at a Leeds independent, Tarbett鈥檚, where she鈥檇 done work experience previously. She was there when the first lockdown was instigated.
鈥淚t was so bizarre. The announcement about the national lockdown was made, I went into work the next day and the boss said I might be furloughed by the end of the week.
鈥淭he business went the opposite way, we had people queuing down the street asking for the fish as the supermarkets had closed their fresh counters so they could have more staff on the shop floor.鈥
Trained in Grimsby and a regular visitor back through her industry interest - be it filleting competitions, the Humber Seafood Summit or even an epic walk to the 海角视频 home of fish for the sector charity - she made the move east along the M62 and M180 when a role came up with Premier Seafoods.
It was all down to the business鈥 performance in the pandemic.
With online sales as well as the Riby Street shop, turnover had soared more than 30 per cent.
鈥淟ockdown for the selling side of the industry went the opposite way to what had been expected,鈥 she said. 鈥 The restaurant trade stopped, but once they adapted to take-away, collection or delivery, that picked up too. But the general public more than made up for what we lost in the trade.
鈥淪ales went through the roof in lockdown and Nathan (Godley - owner) needed more staff. I came up one Monday, he talked me through the job and how I would be able to use my skills to fillet and prepare fish. Before I got home he rang me to say the job was mine.鈥
It came at a great time as a house share in West Yorkshire, away from family and friends, in lockdown, had put her on a 鈥榳ork, eat, sleep, repeat鈥 treadmill.
Living and working in the 'new normal'
Now she鈥檚 living in leafy Barndolby-le-Beck in a fisherman鈥檚 house, having hit the perfect partnership as he spends 300 days a year at sea.
Coastal life is doing wonders for her mental and physical health too.
鈥淭he first lockdown took everyone by surprise, it felt a lot stricter, subsequently it has felt a little different. I also know a lot more people in Grimsby than I did in Leeds. I get to walk on the beach, I go to the market with Nathan, it has shaken up my routine for the better.鈥
