April 9th - I get my first vaccination

The cats did not get the brief that I wanted a good night's sleep before having my vaccination this morning - they had me up and down like whore's drawers God bless them.  There has been a lot of bad press regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine - all sorts of horror stories in the press but I guess nowadays they have to reveal any adverse reactions whereas in the past people blithely took what they were given without question and sometimes the side effects were devastating.

I have never had to go to Polis Hospital for myself - it is what people would have, in the past, referred to as a Cottage Hospital.  It seems to be a collection of old buildings which give the impression it might have been some sort of army barracks in the past!!!  It is old but that does not mean that it is not clean or organised as I was very pleased to find out this morning.  

I arrived at the reception area with my Residency information and the printed confirmation of my appointment.  The Doctor, a very nice lady, asked me a few questions about my general health and I confirmed my name and phone number and I was asked to take a seat - my bum had hardly brushed the plastic when another nice lady asked me to follow her and I went into a side room and within about 10 seconds my jab had been administered - I felt nothing at all!!!

I was then given a label with the time of 9.40 on it which was when I would be able to leave.  My appointment had been 9.30 but I had arrived early and gone straight in - there were about half a dozen people who had already been dealt with waiting to be given permission to go.  

I was given my second appointment which is in three months' time on a Friday at 9.30 and given a sheet which I had to read regarding any side effects and then at 9.40 the doctor came and told me I could leave - they have adopted a one-way in and out system and everyone was adhering to it.  I can honestly say that it was painless and although I had anticipated some discomfort I had none.  I actually went shopping with John in Paps afterwards but milked the fact that he was clucking around me like a mother hen - I shall take that whilst I can!!!

I shall see as the days go by if I am lucky enough to avoid any side effects but so far so good.

After a couple of nice days weather-wise today started out fair and then deteriorated badly.  We had decided that if I was feeling ok we would go to lunch in Kathikas at the Farmyard now that it has been able to reopen so that we could support Rachel and Savvas and we had asked Arodes John if he would like to come with us.  Let's just say the weather was grey and windy and damp and because of the regulations we could only sit out on the front deck with the windows open which yesterday would have been lovely but today was not really the most pleasant of experiences.  John and John were dressed for the occasion and looked like they were a couple of extras from Peaky Blinders!!!

The weather was disappointing but the food certainly was not - we all chose from the Thai menu and it was probably the best we have had there ever.  Savvas brought us the three new chefs so that we could thank them personally because the food completely made us forget just how cold it was sat in a wind tunnel!!!  Poor Savvas and Rachel - how on earth can it be viable for them to have three chefs, Valentina serving and probably someone pot washing when they only serve five people (two others came when we were there).  Anyway we will do our best to keep them going but it is a tough ask and we just hope others will do the same.