Vaccination day went off without a hitch yesterday. The Covid emptied highways made for easy traveling. The vaccination givers were all in place. I answered questions, had my temperature taken, was handed a sheaf of papers and got my shot. I spent 15 minutes in an observation room to ensure I wouldn’t crash immediately. Then I went home, talked to friends on the drive, ate dinner, watched TV and went to bed.

This morning I have pain at the injection site, a reported side effect. None of the others have shown up yet, at least that I know of because tiredness, headache and muscle pain seem to be pretty generic and it’s hard to imagine someone my age who isn’t experiencing them. I know I do. For now, I’ll just assume the vaccine is traveling around the immune system telling everyone, “Hey, the Danes are in Northumbria and this is what they look like and this is how we’re going to fight them.” Then everyone will start practicing, and I’ll feel the rest of the side effects.

Just to make sure everyone in the kingdom got the message, of course, because there are always a few folks who poo-poo those warnings, I’ll get a second shot on January 29. From what I’ve heard, everyone by then will have gotten the message and the practice sessions may be more intense and thus my symptoms may be more severe. I guess the best analogy will be that it might feel like a live fire exercise. I hope, of course, that my immune system is just a cold, efficient killer. That it’s getting the vaccine’s warning, and is nodding its head, and saying, “We’ve seen them here and already killed a few but thanks for the heads up, it’s nice to have the reminder.” With that, they’ll go back to sharpening their swords.