I need a boost!

Welcome, boosted reader, as it's been a week or two of boosts. Yesterday, we dutifully queued up outside a chilly Mountain View Community Centre to get our booster vaccinations. The operation here was surprisingly efficient, although much smaller scale than the initial vaccination programme; that said, I wouldn't be surprised if things ramp up here as there's clearly a messaging campaign happening to get people taking those booster vaccinations.

In a couple of days we will be getting on a plane and travelling back to the UK for Christmas and New Year, so the blog will be taking a break as I'm not going to lump my personal laptop with me. Obviously this involves a lot of testing, and hopefully plentiful negative results; this little box here is our passport to the holidays:

These fancy (and very expensive) COVID test kits were provided free by my employer (thanks Uncle Sundar!) and provide a test which is high enough quality to get us into the UK and back into the US. Obviously we also have to take a PCR test to get out of self-isolation in the UK, so that's at least 3 tests in total, but we'll probably do more just to be on the safe side.

"Having a boost" has become a bit of a catch-phrase in these parts, meaning any sort of mid-afternoon snack. It's grown out of Dr Michael Moseley's excellent radio series and podcast 'Just One Thing', and in particular an episode where he talked about the benefits of eating a square of high-cocoa plain chocolate, which can literally give you a boost. These days, a 'boost' can mean anything from a cup of coffee, some chocolate, a piece of cake, and it's even now spread into some mid-afternoon toast (with Marmite, because of course we're still British actually).

The vaccination itself doesn't quite fit that definition: I have a sore arm, and Helen's not feeling great this morning. This is repeating what happened after the second vaccination, so we're confident we'll both feel fine tomorrow - which is important given that we're supposed to be off to see the 49ers take on the Atlanta Falcons down at our previous vaccination site! We have a lot of things to tick off in the next couple of weeks to ensure everything goes to plan, and we'll have to try hard to remember that we're supposed to be enjoying it too. More on our successful return, reader!