Yesterday was the first day that the H1N1 shots were available in our area (and only for particular people, including those with chronic illnesses and the people who love them, which is how I qualified). The clinic opened at 2:30pm, so Frank, I, and Karen-who-has-no-blog (yet) figured that if we showed up a little while after that, the first rush would be over and we’d be in and out pretty quick.
You know how sometimes you can be so wrong about stuff? We arrived at 3:20, somehow managed to find a parking spot, and headed for the end of the line, which was by that time a good long way out on the sidewalk of the rec centre where the clinic was being held. About an hour later, we made it to the building’s door and took our numbers (mine is in the photo above, and I do believe that they really *did* start with 001).
Around 5:00 we decided to go to a nearby sushi place for supper and resume our lining-up after that (by this time the organizers were encouraging people to do that — well, not specifically to eat sushi, but to leave and return a few hours later). As you can see from the sign above, the clinic was to run from 2:30 to 8:30. The buzz in the line was that at around 3:30 they started turning people away because they realized they’d never get through them all in time. We got our shots at around 8:45, and there were still plenty of people behind us. Clinics were set up in a few different places around the city, and the story was much the same at all of them.
I’m so glad that we now have our shots, and don’t have to worry about that as we travel around. I’m so glad that we live in a place that has enough vaccine for anyone who wants the inoculation (so they say, at any rate), and gives it away for free. I’m so glad that, in spite of the long waits, almost everyone in the line-up (including all the little kids, who certainly had reasons to get cranky) stayed in good spirits for the whole five or six hour wait. I’m so glad that the people working the clinic were willing to stay several hours later than they’d planned so that everyone could get their shots. All that *and* sushi. Not the way I’d envisioned spending my Monday afternoon and evening, and I have to say that I was quite happy to finally get home at about 9:30, but, all in all, a much better experience than it might have been.
4 Comments
Not being a fish lover, sushi has always sounded quite gross to me. LOL But so glad you and Frank got to enjoy it. I hope Karen reads your blog and you’ve spurred her on. I think I’d like to read her words and see her photos too!
So glad you were able to get the vaccines. Both my granddaughters (ages 5 and 3) were diagnosed with H1N1 yesterday. The five year-old has been sick for a month now and they finally tested her for it yesterday – her third trip to the doc’s in the past month. It aggravates me so much as she should have been being treated for this long ago and I asked my daughter to have her tested for H1N1 on her second trip to the doc’s two weeks ago! GAH!
We were 244 at Bank and Leitrim – arrived at 2:32 when it opened at 2:30. Shots at 8:00…5.5 hours! No complaints, though, my whole family got the shot and we are hopefully safe in a few more days of immunity building!
Yanno, it was a very long day but I am very glad that we did it. It was made much more bearable by your company. Its over and the sushi was awesome. I cannot wait to do that again – the sushi part, not the needle.
Guy got his but I have to wait ’til the end of November to get mine if there still is any. Either way it’ll work out because if we can get at least 70% of our population vaccinated it shouldn’t spread around.