Winter

November marks the start of winter by my calendar. It is feeling a bit wintry. The clocks have gone back, darkening our skies an hour earlier. The winter wonderland and Christmas market stalls are being put up in Bournemouth. Caffe Nero have the festive drinks menu and cups in stock. I like a Pumpkin Spice latte, but generally steer clear of other seasonal drinks. They tend to have the calorie count of a five course meal and six pack of beer.

I’m prepped for winter. At the beginning of October, I had my flu jab. I’ve had flu twice. In November 1999 and again in December 2021. It rather makes me titter when someone suggests they just had a ‘two day flu’. Flu is nasty stuff. Nasty enough that I remember the dates of my two infections decades later. Nonetheless, I didn’t bother with flu jabs till I had a mystery virus in 2019. I’m older now than and I’d rather give the flu a miss, if possible. I get the jab.

At the end of October I booked my winter Covid jab. The latest BA.1 strain of the Pfizer jab. Only the over 50s, vulnerable folk and people who live with vulnerable folk get the seasonal covid booster here. I booked my appointment the day I turned 50. It turns out I’d have been applicable for the jab anyway as I’m registered as immunocompromised by the NHS. I hadn’t known that till now. This means Mrs P can get the jab too.

I’ve had Covid at least once, probably twice. Fatigue was my first and last symptom. And I don’t seem to have entirely shaken that fatigue. I’d been struggling to describe it until the other day. It’s a bit like I’ve got a bust energy gauge. I feel utterly drained but I still have plenty of energy and go about my day as normal. It’s weird. But I got the jab, because it’s a no-brainer. It boggles the mind that some folk are still confused about what this and other vaccines do, don’t do, might do, probably won’t do and absolutely can’t do. But there’s always some folk.

To stay healthy, one must stay warm. But efficiency is everything this year. I’ve turned off unnecessary radiators at home and turned down the temperature on the boiler for hot water and radiators. I hadn’t heard of this trick before. Most combi boilers have the temperature set between 70 and 80 degrees Celsius, which is apparently wasteful. Reducing the temperature to 60 degrees saves £100s each year, and you’ll not notice the difference. Take that, Vlad!

So I’m set for winter, when it arrives for real. Vlad had been hoping that General Frost would come hard and early, and freeze Europe into submission. Instead, we’ve been cavorting with Field Marshall Indian Summer, which is putting Putin’s feet to the flames. I suspect the Russians will discover that even General Frost has turned against them anyway.

I suspect the Ukrainians will be better equipped to survive the cold. And come spring and the resumption of battle, a depleted rag tag Red Army, frozen, hungry and poorly equipped will face a couple of hundred thousand heavily armed UKR troops, fresh back from training in the UK and elsewhere. Good luck to them.