Column: Love is getting your COVID vaccination on Valentine’s Day
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Not being in the age group or vulnerability priority, I knew it would be some time before the blue NHS letter would appear.
But appear it did with a two-week nail-biting time to plan. It was to be February 14 at 5:20pm.
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Hide AdBang went my ‘Dine In for Two’ deal favoured by all the supermarkets!


I regularly give blood, so needles are not a major trauma, but the reactions I had with previous inoculations were not great.
Some years ago, when I was working in South Korea, I was advised to get a series of jags for malaria. I hadn’t had a tetanus before, so that meant a series of three.
By the second one my arm had swollen up like a balloo,n and when I pointed that out, she said ‘oh, you are saturated, better not give you any more’. Gee thanks!
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Hide AdFast forward to February 2021and already The Fife Free Press is reporting long queues at Templehall Community Centre.
It’s -3C out there and elderly people are waiting outside for over two hours some even longer last week - but Sunday teatime was quiet.
In the car park, five minutes early, I pondered on the great days of these modern shops back when I stayed here - the Buccaneer pub, Johnny’s Chinese takeaway, and the unforgettable Dickens Room with rhubarb tarts to die for.
Maybe I was just hungry and nervous. I needn’t have worried as the automatic door opened for me to be greeted by a guy in a hi-viz vest who asked me to sanitise my hands.
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Hide AdNext was a room of empty chairs, presumably a ‘holding area’ when busy. It wasn’t.
Two desks ahead and the lady said, ‘just come through’ as she searched for me on the database, I turned to Hi-Viz man to say ‘I used to do judo in this very room’ - decades ago.
‘That’s unusual’ he replied, ‘everyone says they came here to see the Bay City Rollers’.
‘Oh, so did I’ said I recalling my teen years, ‘and Gaels Blue and Salvation back in the day’.
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Hide AdThis was lost on Hi-Viz man who now accompanied me to the big hall where more staff were on hand washing down seats and advising where to wait. The big clock was now at 5:20pm, and, right on schedule, I was asked to speak to Diane who was the verifier.
‘Are you taking any antibiotics?’ No
‘Any blood thinners?’ No
‘Any allergies?’ No, I can take penicillin, and peanuts - in fact I love peanuts’.
‘Go to number seven’ – she pointed along an array of dividers and tables. To say this was military precision was an understatement - most of the ‘injectors’ were in camouflage fatigues.
I asked what ‘brand’ we were getting - the Pfizer/BioNTech. With a reported 95% protection that will do for me.
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Hide AdSuffice to say I never felt a thing and, after a relaxing 15-minute waiting time, was released.
All the post-jag ladies and gents looked at the big clock- time for me to message home to ensure the oven was on for tea.
Swift, efficient, and effective thanks to all involved.Did I tell you the bay City rollers played in here?