Do You Want to Build A Snowman?

 Ah - youth!  I lamented to SK today that while we were sitting placidly inside watching the snow drift down out of the sky, Kristina and Cameron, two of our cute young friends went outside and built a snowman, nearly 5 1/2 feet tall!  They went to University Park, a gorgeous walk filled with meadows and river offshoots.  They said there were so many people out erecting their own creations, they could hardly find a place to build their own snowman.

As we were out and about today on our walk and on a drive to pick up a prescription, we saw ample evidence that there was indeed plenty of good snow for building all kinds of snow characters.  Since the weather has been very chilly the snowmen are still mostly standing, evidence of the glee the snow brought to so many.

SK with hood up, mask on and posing next to the remains of a snowman!  I think the movies "Frozen" and Frozen 2" have popularized snowmen more than ever.

This unremarkable picture is delightful in that the street sign is just so charming!  "Turn Again Lane."

The day was spent filling out a lot of paperwork...tons of it, in hopes of getting in line to be vaccinated against COVID.  OK, maybe 15 to 20 pages.  Another one of the senior couples suggested that if you are not a registered member of the National Health Service, the government won't come calling to see if you want a shot.  Today, we worked on applying, so that we can at least get in the "queue" for a vaccination.

Once again, we run into the slightly tricky visa situation.  We are anxious to be granted permission to stay for another 6 to 8 months, and we are technically legal, but our residency permit card clearly shows that our date to be gone was four months ago.  As a result, applications need a fair amount of explanation.  We will finish them today and walk them over to a clinic here.

The clinic we have been going to for medication etc. sees only paying customers, and caters to non-citizens.  When I had the telephone consultation with the physician last week to get refills, he wearily told me that they had only received a fraction of the number of COVID "jabs" they had asked for.  The news reports say that there is a large number of individuals, who wary of the vaccination, are refusing them.  But if you speak to medical people, they can't keep up with the demand.

Even parents of missionaries are getting in on the act.  Dave has received some interesting letters.  Last week, he received one demanding that he see to it that the missionary child of the writer gets vaccinated immediately.  Dave was told that "with his influence" he should get every missionary a shot post haste, and that if the letter writer were Dave, it would have been done already.  I am unsure how exactly Dave is supposed to react....he hasn't even been able to get one for himself yet.  It is kind of a back-handed compliment, assuming Dave can do anything in a country with socialized medicine and a limited supply.

In fact, it is so limited that everyone is receiving only one of the required two, and being scheduled as far out as is possible for the second dose, with the theory that if one dose gives 50% protection, then give more people one shot and gamble that 10 weeks later, there will be ample vaccine to go around for all the second doses.

For now, the news hints that it may be April before we see any easing of the lockdown.  Time to get back to the paperwork.  I think I would rather build a snowman.