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I've joined the Jabberwocky Club

Ah, 'twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe. Guess what? I've joined the Jabberwocky Club.

It has nothing to do with Lewis Carroll's 1871 nonsense rhyme in Alice Through The Looking Glass but everything to do with the 2021 Covid-19 vaccination roll-out.

The Jabberwock featured in Lewis Carroll's nonsense rhyme Jabberwocky in Alice Through The Looking Glass
The Jabberwock featured in Lewis Carroll's nonsense rhyme Jabberwocky in Alice Through The Looking Glass

As a chap in my 60s I received my call-up papers last week with the caveat that it might take my GP a few weeks to get round to me. Mrs Nurden was not impressed.

"You want it now," she insisted. She is convinced I have entered my dotage and so have lost any ability to make up my own mind. But past experience has proved that ignoring her is not an option if I want to live a reasonably happy life.

She remained suspicious that I would be unable to book my own appointment so she arranged for me to visit a little outpost in Cliffe Woods Community Centre in the back of beyond somewhere on the other side of Rochester. Before that, the only thing I'd known about the place was that the late comic Paul James had lived nearby.

We hit on a time of 10.10am on Sunday. Mrs Nurden's original suggestion of 8am seemed a tad too early for a weekend. Even so, we arrived a good 30 minutes early helped by excellent Covid-19 road signs but with no thanks to my German car's inbuilt satnav. The Germans really have got it in for our vaccination system, haven't they?

The team at the centre would have made the greeters at London's 2012 Olympics seem surly. It was like being welcomed to a pantomime. One even agreed to take my photo beneath the venue's sign (yes, I am a bit of a luvvie when it comes to Facebook and Twitter).

John Nurden about to be jabbed at the Covid-19 vaccination centre at Cliffe Woods Community Centre
John Nurden about to be jabbed at the Covid-19 vaccination centre at Cliffe Woods Community Centre

They even posed for a group shot. One ventured: "Do you want us to take a photo of you getting your jab?"

It was a sweet idea but I passed, fearing the experience might prove too gory. But the injection was totally painless.

So far, there have been no side effects except for exhaustion, which sent me to bed early at 9pm on the Monday night, and a slight fever.

But by the following morning I was as right as rain.

Beware the Jabberwock? Not this time...

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