It was an unusual start to the day for New Year's Eve. Jackie and Jillie had their breakfast, but we didn't. We decided to wait until 'after'. After would be when we returned home. We had an appointment, a month in the making, for our COVID booster. The person to whom we spoke a month ago couldn't accommodate us closer to home, so we had a longish drive to our destination. A year ago when the first doses were being given, the elderly were prioritized. Now the priority is to vaccine all children in Canada from age five to 12 with partial doses of Pfizer.

 

The young woman whose desk we were directed to was utterly charming. She took all our health card particulars then told us we wouldn't be receiving Pfizer, it was being kept aside for children this time around. Our previous two doses were both Pfizer. Moderna, it would be this time around, like it or not. She was Chinese, a petite, pretty woman with the loveliest, kindest eyes imaginable. And she was a medical doctor. She expertly squeezed the skin together into a thick lump and inserted the needle into our deltoid muscle. And we felt nothing, not the merest whisper of a prick from the hypodermic needle.

We had been directed to an area intermediate school, quite a distance from home. A very large, sprawling, red brick building whose interior was absolutely labyrinthine. There were attendants everywhere directing us down long winding corridors that finally ended up in a huge gymnasium after we had been checked in at a number of initial entry desks. The gym was full of tables, chairs, and people awaiting attention, but it was so large there were wide distances between everyone.

There were people of all ages waiting to be attended to. Parents with their children. Mostly very young children. After we had received our dose and waited briefly before leaving, we heard a child emit a long piercing scream, repeating it over and over and over again. People kept their children close to them; no roaming about as children are wont to do, interested in inspecting everything. Everyone was patient, from the attendants to the people awaiting service. Very Canadian.

We'd had to wait briefly in our parked care, until ten minutes to our appointment time. And then we waited outside the doors of the building for another while in the damp morning cold. Several times vehicles stopped close to the entrance, and door attendants responded with wheel chairs when infirm elderly people arrived. They too waited briefly in line, joined by others of their families. By the time we left the parking lot, a spillover lot that had only a half-dozen cars parked in it, it was completely full.

Jackie and Jillie greeted us like long-lost travellers. We felt like long-lost travellers. Finally we had breakfast and I cooked a scrambled egg for the puppies as an extra treat. Then began my Friday morning baking/cooking routine. Decided on an all-berry pie for dessert for tonight. And turkey thighs braised in a thick chicken gravy, with parsnips.

Today, another  heavily overcast day, but mild at -1C, and no wind. We discovered that New Year's Eve must have suggested nostalgic memories of childhood to area residents, and we saw a number of families out with their children and toboggans. Conditions on the hills fairly good for sledding. And for the first time Jackie and Jillie witnessed the peculiar sight of children dressed in colourful winter clothing whizzing down hills. And they thought they'd join them. We managed to convince them otherwise, but it wasn't easy.

We all enjoyed, as usual, a nice brisk hike through the forest trails. There are times when the landscape looks a bit surreal. Particularly when early dusk descends, as it does now regularly shortly after 3:30 pm. As for our New Year's plans to bring in 2022, we'll put on the fireplace, get good and comfortable and read to our hearts' content.