It's here - the day of our first coronavirus vaccination dose. Our appointments aren't till just after 2pm, but that means it's hard to concentrate much on anything during the morning.
I feel incredibly nervous - and I think that's just because these days we just never ever go out into the town to do anything specific that involves other people.
No wonder that Alison, our elder daughter who lives in Haslemere, Surrey together with Ed and their 3 children and 2 pets, says that the family's pets get really stressed when anybody just comes to the front door - Sika the dog, and Dumbledore and Otto the cats. If the doorbell rings, Ali says the cats run away and hide under beds and that kind of thing, while Sika goes into a frenzy of barking - the poor things!!!
12:30 We have lunch and then leave for our appointments, which are at the Cheltenham East Fire Station, part of which has been made over to process the vaccination programme.
As usual I have imagined to myself various things that might go wrong this afternoon - there may be heavy snow, for instance: in fact despite the forecast for sleet we just get rain in the morning, rain which begins to slacken off in the afternoon, with occasional glimpses of sun, which is nice.
The other major problem in my head is paying for parking. Various people have reported on social media that they found long queues at the ticket-machines in the lido car-park, because the machines weren't working properly or people were having trouble with them. It took so long that they missed their appointments, they implied.
But when Lois and I arrive this afternoon there are no queues - but I don't have to use the machines anyway. I have downloaded the paybyphone app on to my phone, and it works just perfectly. Within 20 seconds of arriving in the car-park and getting the phone out of my pocket, I have paid for parking there for the next hour - simples!!!
We cross Keynsham Road into the Fire Station, and are directed along a wide corridor to 4 desk where you can sign in, giving name, NHS number, date of birth and first line of address. Then you continue on along the corridor to the vaccination bays. After that you sit in a big space for 15 minutes - the chairs are all about 6 ft apart. And then you can go home - simples (again) !!!!
They tell us it's the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine that we're getting, and we'll have to go back for the second dose in a few weeks' time. It takes a week or two for our bodies to build up some protections from the first dose. And the second dose extends the protection time-wise. Vaccination doesn't completely rule out the chances of catching the virus but the effects should be less severe, which is reassuring.
we park in the Lido Car-park opposite the Fire Station..
.. and then enter the Fire Station building...
...we sign in at one of the 4 sign-in desks...
we walk 50 feet down the corridor, taking coats and jackets off along the way...
...then we are directed into one of the four vaccination bays
if you're a driver, you're asked to sit in a sitting area for 15 minutes
...and then you can go home - simples !!!!
All the above pictures were taken off a reassuring educational
video that the local NHS put on YouTube, a video which Lois and watch before we set off this afternoon, so that we know exactly what to expect. Not that we're inclined to be over- cautious or anything haha!
this is me sitting in the sitting-area after my jab -
I'm actually smiling behind the mask, but it's a bit hard to tell.
Next time I'll paint big lips and a smile on, like clowns do haha!
[I really wouldn't do that if I were you. You look creepy enough just with a plain mask - a big painted smile will just make it worse haha - Ed]
how a typical clown looks after he's been vaccinated
Everybody in attendance there was very kind and helpful, and there were plenty of marshals and other volunteer helpers around to make sure nobody had any problems, which was nice.
Steve, our American brother-in-law, sent us an interesting chart showing that the UK is actually doing quite well in getting through its vaccinations quickly - it's always a surprise to me when the UK does something right for a change.
The EU countries are a bit behind us I see. Lois read in her copy of "The Week" today that the EU made a lot of bad decisions over the last few month. Apparently under French pressure, the EU invested heavily in a vaccine being developed in France, which isn't going to be ready till the end of 2021. I don't know how true this is.
14:45 We arrive home, but we are feeling a bit like limp rags due to the sudden disappearance of stress and tension, so we have a cup of tea and a hot cross bun, before going to bed for a couple of hours. Oh dear, we're certainly getting old, no doubt about that!
20:00 We settle down on the couch to watch some TV, the third episode in the new Danish real-life crime series, "The Investigation", about the murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall on board Danish billionaire Peter Madsen's private submarine in 2017.
Journalist Kim's headless, limbless torso has been washed ashore, but the torso doesn't show the cause of death. So the search for the rest of her body parts continues.
Journalist Kim's torso has been found, but the search continues for her head and limbs - yikes!!!!
This is another episode where detective Jens Moller and his team make little progress - this would never happen in a fictional series, but you get the impression that this is what real life is like in crime investigations. Finding Kim's head or limbs is like looking for a needle in a haystack. One of the team in charge of the diving expeditions tells Jens that he's never seen him at so much of a loss before.
The submarine owner, Peter Madsen, has been arrested, and starting from that time of arrest police have 4 weeks before they need to bring Madsen to court and show their evidence to a judge.
I think that this is quite a bit longer than in the UK - here I think police can only detain you for 24 hours: if they want to hold you for longer, they have to bring you before a JP or magistrate with some prima facie evidence. Detective Jens, however, has had Madsen in jail for 2 weeks already, and still hasn't found any evidence - oh dear!
What gripping stuff !
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz!!!!!
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