I've had my jab at the clinic. It took twenty minutes. I went in at one end of theclinic. First they had to make sure it was me, then give me a pep talk about staying safe, then an injection, then get a label that said 13.38 stuck on, and sit on a chair for five minutes till 13.38 in case the trauma of the injection caused me to fall over. After that, I left by the door at the other end of the clinic building. As I looked back, I saw a neat lady I banter with in the street three or four times a year going in, and wished I'd been fifteen minutes later, as our meetings are like spice for my day. But it's so often like that, especially when someone makes a snide remark and fifteen minutes later you think of a great answer. Funnily enough, I read the other day about a chap who spent time in lockdown thinking of really good quips, then manoeuvres conversations round to get them in, a kind of preplanned, frozen food, sort of one-liner idea. He warned it requires great skill, there's always some Smart Alec who interrupts and gets their one-liner in first and all his hard work is for nothing. I hope that's politically correct and I don't have some Alec chap, even female, chasing me for defamation.

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