Today is the official end of the Christmas season and we are not yet in Lent. Hurray!

I woke up this morning heavy lidded and groggy because I had had an almost sleepless night but I couldn’t go back to bed because I had a hospital appointment. At last, a good reason to go out, go on public transport, take a walk, possibly exchange a few words with total strangers. No, I wasn’t going to accept sweets, but I would get into a stranger’s car (black cab,) if I had to.

I was going for a blood test for the Novavax trials which I had signed up to last year. I was quite excited because I thought they might tell me today if I had already had the vaccine, or just the placebo. I arrived a couple of minutes late, they were ready and waiting, with the chief nurse wielding…