Maybole

I think we all have experience the Thai idea of a loan.

The Thai consul in Scotland used to hold an annual garden party at his country house. Several hundred Thai ladies, with their spouses and children attended. My wife used to pick out some as ex bargirls. They had all, surprisingly quickly, become remarkably respectable.

To recap the history, I registered at our village health centre in early May and a few days later a health volunteer delivered an appointment card to my house for 9am on 2nd July at Sanpatong Hospital. On 1st July in late afternoon a "co-ordinator" phoned to cancel the appointment because the expected delivery of vaccine had not arrived. The following Monday 5th I again got a telephone call requiring me to attend the next day at 9am. The venue was changed to Chiangmai Sports school just along the road from the hospital. Later that day one of the local anti- mosquito volunteers delivered an appointment card with the time of 1pm. 6th July.

The next day I arrived at the Sports School at 10 mins to 1pm and was issued with a queue number and told to wait outside. Chairs were set out under some shady trees.

Queue numbers were called in batches of 5 and mine came up in 30 mins. On going into the ante-room I was seated in front of one of several desks and my identity and medical details checked. The clerkess informed me that the vaccine would be the AstraZeneca to which I did not object. I was required to sign a consent form and then given my form ID and queue number back. We were then all seated in order of Queue number in lines of 10 and every few minutes a line was taken en mass into  the main indoor arena and again seated by number and our paperwork was collected and our ID cards returned.

Inside was a dais occupied by about nine clerks/clerkesses with computer screens in font of them. At one side was another row of tables which appeared to be controlling the actual supply of vaccines.

Two nurses pushing trolleys with prepared syringes and propelling a wheely chair went down each line in turn vaccinating each person then returning to the side tables and exchanging the used needles for fresh ones. I was vaccinated at 2.15 pm. A clerkess then came down the line issuing a list of possible side effects to be expected and a list of dos and donts. We were instructed to wait 30 mins.

35 mins later another clerkess came along the line checked identities and issued each of us a card with details of the vaccination including the batch number and a provisional date for the second dose. We were then free to go.

The whole thing took just over 2 hours and was very well organised.

I felt no ill effects until evening when I could not eat all my supper, then about 9pm I felt very tired and the back of my  head was sore. I also had sore legs just like an evening after a days strenuous hill walking. I went to bed to be woken up by heavy rain at 2.30 and was unable to sleep again until 5 am.

I woke up at 8am, had a breakfast and a short walk. Then about 9.15 I was seized by an urgent need to defecate and the spent 45mins on the throne with diarrhoea. Then everything cleared and I have felt completely whole since.

End of report, sorry too be long winded.