13 February 2021

Appointments

I made a nice chicken curry last night with Bombay potatoes, rice and peshwari nan breads. It was ready for Mrs Pudding when she walked in from her day's work at  the health centre - just after six o'clock.

After the meal, we settled down in the front room with the television set on. I don't know how it cropped up but she suggested that I should check out the COVID vaccine booking system. Maybe they would have started  on appointments for people aged 65 to 70. To tell you the truth, I would have just waited for an official letter inviting me to have my shots via my local surgery.

Sure enough, it appeared that bookings for my age group are now being accepted. With a small amount of technical difficulty I managed to secure my first appointment on Monday afternoon. My second vaccine appointment will be on May 3rd. 

Of course I am delighted and relieved to have reached this position. My vaccinations will happen in the Sheffield Arena - a huge concert and exhibition venue in the Attercliffe area of the city.

I wonder if I can still skip? I have not tried for ages but if I can still skip I will skip into The Arena singing, "I'm getting the vaccine! La-la-la-la-la-la! I'm getting the vaccine!" And I do not care a damn if Q-Anon have put microscopic chips in the syringes to track my movements. 

My daughter and son-in-law would like to visit friends in Toronto, Canada in October but with everybody having to have two shots they may not have had theirs by October. Besides, Canada may be operating restrictions that involve quarantining. Somehow I would not put money on them being able to go.

In other "Daily Pudding" news,  I spent a couple of hours yesterday morning in the presence of Little Miss Poo-Pants and just for a change I sang "Mary Mary Quite Contrary" to her. Did you know that this famous nursery rhyme may refer to Mary Queen of Scots and the years she spent in imprisonment? However, there are other theories about its origins:-

Mary, Mary, quite contrary
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockleshells
And pretty maids all in a row
And pretty maids all in a row

At the age of four weeks, Phoebe seemed unconcerned about the verse's history.

40 comments:

  1. Our country seems to be having trouble on the vaccination front. Obtaining vaccine seems to be a challenge.

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    1. Get The Mounties on it. The Mounties always get through.

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  2. I had the pfizer vaccine, with no side effects, in the Scottish Exhibition Centre (the Armadillo) down by the River Clyde. As the old adage has it: The Clyde made Glasgow and Glasgow made the Clyde.
    And as Tony Benn said, *If we planned the war, why couldn't we plan the peace?*
    This was the NHS as it used to be. My GP before he retired said, *The Tories just don't believe in the NHS,* which is why they privatised it by stealth.

    Hey, could you send me on a doggy bag with curry, nan, and Bombay spuds?
    *I am an old man hoping to see out his twilight years in Israel,* as Lee Strasbourg said in Godfather II. I can do Method, man.

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    1. The last words of your old GP ring true for me. I would like to grab that little weasel Matt Hancock round the throat and force him to tell me why he thinks it is okay for him to wear an NHS rainbow badge on his lapel.

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  3. We have been advised by our Prime Minister that overseas travel is out this year . Fingers crossed for 2022.

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    1. Don't you mean 2027? A typing error I presume.

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  4. Anonymous6:27 am

    I'm sure it will be a relief for you to receive the vaccination. I supposed vaccinated or not, you still have to follow the restrictions.

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    1. That is true Andrew. Even if the entire country had been vaccinated we would still have to be careful.

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  5. Good news about your vaccination YP. We are only just starting on the over 75s here so P and I will have to wait for a while longer yet.
    I like Phoebe's new name, Princess Poo Pants, by the way.

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    1. I can easily start calling you the same JayCee!

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    2. Ah, but not quite as onomatopoeic is it?

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  6. Playing Sheffield Arena! Respect! Who are your supporting acts?

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    1. Matt Hancock and The Has-Beens and The Old Etonians

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  7. Well I had mine, the 'golden ticket - part one to freedom?' I think not. But I did have a day of flu like symptoms next day. Be careful what you call Phoebe, nicknames can last to adulthood, she won't thank you for Little Miss poo-pants!

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    1. Okay. I will take that advice on board Thelma.

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  8. I think we will only be allowed to travel again when every country gets a fair share of the vaccines and everyone including the aircrew is able to avail of the vaccine.

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    1. And that will be the point when the virus mutates into something even more monstrous!

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  9. Wait- you get one vaccine in February and have to wait until May for the second? Is that how this one goes?
    If I had a dollar for every time someone chanted "Mary, Mary, Quite contrary to me," I'd be, well, richer.

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    1. And are you Mary, are you contrary?

      In Britain the aim is to get the first vaccine into as many people as possible - thus delaying second vaccinations. Just receiving the first vaccine will ensure a high degree of protection before the boosting effect of the second vaccine is provided.

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  10. What great news about your shot! I'm sure it will be a huge relief for you to get it. We're still waiting here but hoping that our turn will come soon. Gregg's oncologist should be able to get him in after his March 2 appointment and we keep hearing that school employees will be eligible very soon. Fingers crossed!

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    1. With Gregg's history he should have had his first vaccination weeks ago in my humble opinion.

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    2. Agreed. And if he had been willing to ask the oncologist weeks ago he probably would have. He acted as if that would be jumping in line ahead of others more deserving. It will be a load of my mind to see him vaccinated.

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  11. Hubby had his first vaccine yesterday and seems to have had no after effects apart from a slight headache, I have my first jab next Friday, looking forward to it, and hopefully one day in the not too distant future we may also be able to travel to Canada to see our son and his family.

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    1. Be brave when you have your jab Jo. No crying or histrionics!

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  12. I had no idea "Mary Mary" referred to Mary, Queen of Scots! Glad you got your vaccine appointment. I am hoping to visit my family in Florida this summer but that may be a pipe dream!

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    1. Is a pipe dream one that you have while smoking a pipe stuffed with marijuana?

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  13. Poo-Pants?! For that darling child? Might I suggest 'Pooty Pants'. It's far more cutey and will not traumatize the poor child when she's older.

    Glad your vaccine is scheduled. We're not even close to hitting the lottery here.

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    1. Pennsylvania could raise a lot of money by offering vaccinations as prizes in the state lottery.

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  14. Replies
    1. Will I need it? Thanks all the same.

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  15. Seems you and I both make lovely dinners most evenings. I enjoy cooking but not the washing up. Have finally, after 51 years, persuaded himself that if I cook, he should clean up. And, he does! Big Bear got his second dose on Monday and I got my second on Thursday evening. No reactions to the first one but we both had symptoms of the flu, including fever, from the second. But all is well now and we are happy as can be! Hello there, precious Phoebe!

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    1. "Ga-ga-goo-goo! WAAAAAH!" (= Hi there Auntie Donna!)

      I guess it is hard for bears to clean up with their big ursine claws but after 51 years your persistence has at last paid off!

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  16. Just remember YP - when you come to give your speech at Phoebe's wedding, and you feel bound to share some little gems from her babyhood, you do NOT tell the assembled crowd that she was once called Miss Poo-Pants - no matter how affectionately she was known by it!
    No sign of a vaccination here, and we've just learned that the latest batch arriving in Spain will not be given to anyone over 55 years of age. Talking to friends this morning, we feel that we'll slip through the cracks and miss out altogether. In contrast - all my friends in the UK - my age and older and younger than I am, have all had their first jabs.

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    1. Strange that Spain is prioritising jabs differently. You would think that all nations should be following WHO guidance. By the way CG, if Phoebe does get married in the future I will be long dead. Sad but true.

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  17. Congrats on getting booked for your vaccination - at the rate we are going here I don't expect to be on the list much before June! That's the price you pay when you let your drug manufacturing facilities move overseas!
    Anyone thinking about flying into Toronto before the end of April should know that as of Feb. 22 you will require:
    .A negative Covid test before boarding the flight
    .Another Covid test when you land
    .Then you'll be sent to a Govt. approved hotel for three days until your test comes back.
    .This hotel stay will cost you $2000 per person.
    .If your test comes back negative then you may finish your 14 day quarantine at home under strict monitoring
    .If your test comes back positive then you'll be taken to a Govt. approved facility (at their cost) until you recover and test clear.

    The four main airlines have all agreed not to fly to Mexico or the Caribbean until the end of April (now in effect). This is to stop all the idiots who think they need a vacation in the middle of a pandemic! They are flying down empty at the moment to pick up those who are already there.

    Most of us think these efforts should have gone into effect long ago! Hopefully by October things will be a bit better.

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    1. Thanks for this update Margie. I will tell my daughter and son-in-law when they come round this afternoon for Sunday dinner.

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  18. So glad you have got a date for your first vaccine and your second. Although I have had my first, they never gave me a date for my second and said it will be in approx 12 weeks. I suppose that gives them leeway to change the date. I know some friends who have booked holidays in the autumn already but I think it would be wiser to wait until we know we can travel.

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    1. I love holidays but the life of me I just cannot understand all this fuss about the "freedom" to take holidays during a deadly pandemic. Some people lack brain power.

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  19. I have heard nothing but good things about the vaccinating, how well it is organised etc., from my family and friends in Yorkshire. My 86-year-old mother-in-law says she has not even had a sore arm afterwards. She does not know yet when her second appointment is going to be.
    Over here, the official recommendation is that not more than 3-4 weeks should pass between the two jabs, in order for the vaccine to become really effective.
    I do not expect to be able to travel to Yorkshire this year, either. The overall situation is still too uncertain.

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    1. Here the policy is to get the first vaccine into as many arms as possible because even one shot gives significant protection before the booster. More than fifteen million people have now received their first jab. It is a great national achievement - so far.

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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