Call-up

When someone has news they are about to receive their vaccine, have you noticed the propensity for them to tell others? It's obviously big news and it's obviously a huge talking point. So it was that on Wednesday we received our call that we should make our way to Plas Meddyg to receive our first vaccine shots. Almost immediately, my spouse told our no longer local children. Perhaps there's little else about for the nation to talk about, anyway.

A modest, distanced queue formed outside Plas Meddyg to await vaccination appointments. Only six people were admitted at any one time. There was a one-way system within. During the vaccination, Plas Meddyg was as busy as it has ever been for a year

Yesterday morning, I was at once nervous and excited. Enthusiastic, because this is one shot in the arm for the fight to get back to normal. Apprehensive, because of the possible side effects. But, of course, we all need to take some personal responsibility and do our small part in trying to see off this threat. So, on balance, I shall be off to the surgery to Get Things Done. 

It was indeed with some joviality that in the shower yesterday morning I found myself humming Scaffold's 'Lily the Pink'. 

But we also learnt three things yesterday. These were evident upon tuning into the radio news within minutes of receiving my first dose. The first was that, in spite of a programme of mass vaccination, we should likely remain under some sort of control during the entirety of 2121. In other words, life will not return to normal this year. This is not as we were led to believe and it may be linked to new variants. It seems that the vaccine is likely to be only 75 per cent effective against the Kent variant. 

Linked to this, the second thing we learnt was that we can expect a third and even a fourth wave. 

Finally, there were reports that some countries were suspending the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccination for fear of blood clotting. Guess what type of vaccine Plas Meddyg was administering...

Still, while I was in Plas Mweddyg, this was all unbeknownst to me and in my enthusiasm I did venture to ask the nurse if they could also do one more urgent thing for me. My hair. For that's another desperate area.