"CO, CO, CO-vid! Wary Christmas"!

Continuation of the Naughty/Nice theme of our last posting.

I have on the whole been quite Good regards Covid precautions.  My activities have been limited to walks and whatever indoor stuff I can amuse myself in the workshop.  I have not been to bars, nightclubs, fitness centers or other hotbeds of disease.  Why, I've not even attended any Implausibly Exempt Gatherings such as protest marches.  My contact with people outside the immediate two person household has remained the occasional masked trip to pick up essential provisions.  In general others are also compliant in such places.  In fact these days when you see someone's entire face it is jarring.  You notice it at a distance and keep it that way.

So it is quite unfair that I developed a stuffy nose and chills on the evening of 22 December.  These days you have to take such things seriously, especially when considering holiday interactions with anyone.  Testing was warranted.   

It took a few phone calls and a morning's worth of waiting, but by early afternoon I had experienced the joys of a nasal swab that, while not as bad as some claim, was by no means enjoyable.  And so began the wait.

The testing center was busy and they were moving people in and out at a good clip, and through different doors.  I've been to airports in the middle east with less security.  In passing I was given a pamphlet with instructions to go online and get results.  Alas, the first thing you had to enter was your Prestigious Clinic Number, and not being a regular customer there I did not have one.  Hmmmm, guess it is just wait for a call then.  So ends 23 December with a general promise of results in 24 to 48 hours.  I'm feeling better by now.  Thanks for wondering.

24 December.  Well it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  Snow to move.  And instead of waiting for a phone to ring I actually can just check the internet.  Evidently on the basis of having worked for them long ago I DO have a Prestigious Clinic Number.  Go figure.  It makes me wonder how much addition Digital Detritus is out there.  By mid morning the moving pieces of  Christmas: people driving, scheduling zoom conferences, cookie sheets going in and out of the oven.... were underway.

I plowed a bunch of snow and shortly before 11 am got my test results.  I am a bit jaded by the medical system but not so much that I don't acknowledge good work when I see it.  This was done efficiently, in less than 24 hours and on the semi holiday Christmas Eve-Day to boot.

And the results?  When you shake and scrutinize any package this time of year you can get a fair sense of what's in it.  I predicted negative.  And was correct.

On several levels this is a nice present.  It makes seeing the Younger Generation more feasible.  My Better Half has gone back to simply regarding me with her usual suspicion rather than the Bring Out Your Dead level of the past 36 hours.  But as Christmas presents go this is in some ways in the Pair O' Socks category.

It would help my logistics for the next few months to have had reasonable confidence that I'd be immune to Covid.  And if it indeed was so mild that I shook it off with disdain then that's good.  Nobody wants to be that case on the evening news that expired in spite of vigorous health and telegenic good looks.  And I'll admit to being just a bit disappointed that I seem to have managed to catch a mild case of "something" despite, as mentioned at the onset, being well over on the Good side of the Good/Bad dial.  It is a veiled warning from the future....take better care of yourself.  So noted.

Hoping you all have an excellent Christmas.  And if you get a pair of socks, appreciate them.  I do.