Column: Love is getting your COVID vaccination on Valentine’s Day

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.

Bang 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!

Fast 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.

Next was a room of empty chairs, presumably a ‘holding area’ when busy. It wasn’t.

https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/people/kirkcaldy-youngsters-question-marcus-rashford-stars-first-scottish-event-3137249

https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/people/valentines-day-ps2000-donation-joy-fife-animal-charity-3136181

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’.

This 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.

Suffice 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?

Thank you for reading this article on our free-to-read website. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

Please consider purchasing a subscription to our print newspaper to help fund our trusted, fact-checked journalism.

https://www.localsubsplus.co.uk/nord/dm/FFP/V