September 6 Getting Vaccinated

Again, more than 2 months have passed since I last posted.  Since then, we have been locked down again, since August 20.  We won't be released until September 13, another week.  This lockdown is a bit different from the others in that it is being very mildly enforced.  There are no buses, which is hurting the poorest levels of society; daily wage earners, factory workers, agricultural worker, casual labourers.  However, those who can afford a car or a tuktuk, are moving about, as are some pedestrians.  

We managed to continue to play mahjong until about a week before the full lockdown.  I also had some nice evenings with my friends Simon and Pauline Lazenbatt before the hammer struck.  The pool also reopened on July 12 so I got a few swims in before they closed it again.

My friend Ralph celebrated his 69th birthday with a party at their house attended by about 20 people.  Gatherings were prohibited, of course, but we went ahead anyway without any difficulty with health restrictions in place.  They followed this up with an anniversary party much in the same format about a week later.  We even got a Sunday lunch squeezed in there.

The pool closed again on August 18, augering the full lockdown.

Initially, I had decided not to get vaccinated.  I am not an antivaxer, but there was so little information about the vaccines they were rushing to produce that I was wary.  I recall the swine flu epidemic in the early 1970s when almost the entire city of Calgary lined up at Mawata Stadium to get their shots.  It must have been the same across Canada.  6 months later, more people had died from the vaccine than from the flu.

Two factors have changed my mind; the greater of them is the advent of a vaccination passport.  Although it has not been mandated here yet, I think it is coming.  They have already been asking for it on buses.  The second is the Delta variant which is now sweeping the country.  My friend Marleen's son Mikael is a biotechnologist and says that these variants are developing inside the bodies of the unvaccinated.  So now it almost feels like a civic duty to get vaccinated.

The next step was to find a vaccine.  I did not want to get the Chinese Sinopharm and was sceptical about the Sputnik V as well; both of which are available here.  I finally settled on Moderna as it is said to be 94.5% effective and can be stored in a normal freezer.  I missed the first round of Moderna shots in my area as I was still procrastinating.  I also had to get registered with the Grama Sevaka (GS) who is the government official who oversees each community.  I did that along with my friend Ava, who is anti anything related to COVID regulations.  However, she does travel by bus, so she decided she had to get it.

The week we registered, we attended a lunch of the Thirsty Club that meets on Thursdays.  Ava had complained that she had not been feeling well but that she was feeling better.  Long story short, she was finally tested and was positive for COVID.  No surprise as she was constantly refusing to wear her mask claiming that it didn't do any good.  Completely irresponsible in that she could have infected thousands of people travelling on the bus and going into town every day and wandering around.

Thankfully, none of us in attendance at the lunch have displayed any symptoms for over 2 weeks now.

After registering with the GS, we heard that they were going to be vaccinating with Moderna on August 25.  My tuktuk man, Asoka knows the GS and got her to fill in the necessary forms and give them to us.  I went along on the 25th only to be informed that they were giving 2nd doses, not 1st.  So it was back to the drawing board.

I had numbers for the central vaccination registry in Colombo, the mobile vaccination group for Kandy, and the military mobile vaccination people.  I got some information from the central registry that they were doing 1st dose Moderna in a couple of places in Kandy, so Asoka and I set out to find one of them.  We stopped and asked some policemen, who knew nothing.  I couldn't get through to the military number until we had driven around for a while.  They were supposed to be running the clinic.  When I got a hold of the captain in charge, he knew nothing about it.  A wild goose chase.

That same day, my landlady got a call from our former GS.  A know crook; he always wanted a backhander when he did anything.  He is now the GS in the area where my friend Devika lives.  She had tried to get me registered in her area, so that I had a better chance of getting the jab.  He remembered me and thus the call to my landlady.  He said he knew where I could get a first dose and that he was going to bring somebody who would arrange it.  In the meantime, Devika had spoken to him and after putting him in his place, found out that they were giving 1st doses to anyone who wanted them at a maternity clinic near where I used to live.

Asoka and I went there on the day and found that chaos reigned.  The clinic is a small space and people were milling around (forget social distancing) in the tiny parking area and garden in front.  A young man who could speak English came to my rescue and took me to see the GS.  I didn't realize until later that it was the crook.  The GS said I couldn't get the shot as I was outside of the area.  I retorted saying that I had been informed that anyone who had not had the first shot could come there and receive it.  All this through the young helpful translator.  I don't know what the translator said to him, but the next thing I knew, I was taken inside to speak to someone who I suspect was the Public Health Inspector (PHI).  He looked at my form, and immediately said they would vaccinate me.

So, I ended up the first in line.  They were using AstraZeneca which is less effective than Moderna, but at that point, I didn't care.  At least it is recognized by Canada and the EU and most importantly, I got the passport.  No side effects whatsoever.  I have had worse spider and ant bites than the reaction in my arm.  So finally, I am shot up.  Second dose is on October 12.  

As I was leaving, the GS followed me out.  Through Asoka, he identified himself as the GS at which point I remembered him from before.  As Asoka and I left, Asoka said the GS expected some money as he had helped.  What a crock!  He had done nothing and received nothing in return.

On the home front, I have been fortunate to find a wonderful series of books written by Ian Hamilton, a Canadian author.  The protagonist is a forensic accountant hamed Ava Lee.  They are great.  I highly recommend them.  The first one is the Water Rat of Wanchai.  I have read 8 of them in the last week alone.

My big adventure was going to Arpico yesterday to do grocery shopping.  It is not officially open.  You have to sneak in the back door and all the lights are off, but they were fully stocked, so I am in good shape.  I did a big shop before the lockdown was declared, so I am not wanting for supplies.  Plus lorries are coming by quite regularly.  This was my fruit and vegetable hoard.

Cilantro for pesto and parsley

Passion fruit, yellow watermelon, limes, pineapple, papaya, 5 kg tomatoes for sauce, avocados from Lesley

King coconut (tambili), coconut (pol), potatoes, ginger, garlic, red onion or shallots

Kang kong being cooked for pizza topping

The lockdown has been made a bit difficult by the never ending rain we have been having.  Great for the plants though.  The downside is that it drives a lot of bugs indoors; big spiders, whip scorpions, etc.

The caladium in the side yard is loving the rain as the hosta beside it.

This shield bug (superfamily Pentatomoides, family Acanathosomatidae) had to be relocated from my bedroom.

My passion fruit vine is finally producing fruit although it is slow to ripen due to the lack of sun.

Juicing my crop of passion fruit.

Overall, I am doing well despite the desperate situation in the country.  The President has declared a state of emergency because of the hoarding of essential food items like rice, sugar and milk powder.  The supply of cooking gas is also in peril because one of the main suppliers has stopped importing because of an inability to get letters of credit due to the almost nonexistent foreign currency reserves.  

The government also banned the use of chemical fertilizers overnight, again due to the lack of forex reserves.  We are coming into the maha (big) crop season and despite the expected import of M$63 worth of organic fertilizer, there a strong likelihood that the maha crop will fail.  You can't go from chemical to organic fertilizer overnight.  So we may be looking at a near famine.  Dire days ahead, but I remain optimistic that we will muddle through somehow.

In closing, as always, my furry babies.  

My 3 loyalists having their afternoon nap.

Buddy and Nangi keeping warm

All 3 of them on top of me.  Impossible to move.

Buddy and Putha in my lap as I am trying to read

Buddy with Putha behind.  Buddy has been in a number of fights with Daykai and has been limping around.  I also had to remove leeches from both his and Putha's mouth a while back.  I didn't catch one in time with Buddy and he couldn't use his mouth for a day due to the swelling.  Never a dull moment.