Today, March 17th, I am getting vaccinated.
I will drive into town, park by the museum I used to visit
and walk to the Pavilion which used to hold events and the weekly roller disco.
I now regret that I never went, that I let a dodgy ankle and a lack of balance
and generally being a scaredy-cat hold me back from edging my way in roller
skates round the perimeter of a room to ABBA tracks. I wish I’d given it a go.
Instead, this afternoon, I shall roll up my sleeve and get
the long-awaited jab.
Afterwards, there will be no bookshop browsing in Mr B’s or
Toppings; no flat white with writing friends at Boston Tea Party. I threw away
my cardboard loyalty stamps long ago.
Then, I won’t need to buy any clothes or gifts for the
events I’m not going to, nor shall I pick up any extra food, just for the hell of
it, for supper with friends.
Because tonight, as every night for the foreseeable, it’s
just us.
Everything in town will be familiar yet so very unfamiliar.
Uncannily, eerily different like walking through a YA novel. Dystopia:
Bath-style.
I wonder if today will feel different for the shot in the
arm. A hint, a glimmer of the old life. Or a hazy promise of the days to come?
Of my roller-skating future.
Today, March 17th, I am getting vaccinated.
Tracy Darnton is the author of YA thrillers The Rules
and The Truth About Lies. She will try hard to be braver in the new
normal, whatever it may be.
You can follow Tracy on Twitter @TracyDarnton
2 comments:
Jab well done ... trying to make a joke?
Definitely jab well done, Tracey - think of it as half-way to normality!
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