A few bits and pieces

[dolorosa_12]

fandomtrees is a low pressure multifandom gifting fest that runs through December. Sign ups have already started, and will remain open until 6th December, and participants can provide gifts from any point from 20th November to 6th January. I participated last year, but I'll have to sit this one out due to feeling generally overwhelmed. But I hope others who might be interested join in if they feel up to it.

I watched this absolutely glorious speech from Australian independent senator Jacqui Lambie with a mixture of delight and rage. In it, she takes aim at fellow senator Pauline Hanson (who belongs to Australia's far-right party) specifically and anti-vaxxers more generally. The whole thing is ten minutes of absolutely righteous rage at people who want their choices to be defended unquestioningly, and utterly skewers the idea that freedom of choice should mean freedom from consequences. I don't always agree with Lambie, but in this she speaks for all of us who have had it up to here with selfish anti-vaxxers overwhelming our healthcare systems and catapulting us in and out of lockdowns.

(As an aside, it strikes me that Lambie is much more authentically the thing that Pauline Hanson claims to be — an independent-minded ordinary Australian who stands outside the two major political parties.)

Speaking of vaccines, Matthias had his booster shot last night. He got his flu vaccination at the same time in the other arm, so understandably is feeling a bit run down and under the weather today! At the moment I'm not eligible for a booster, but I live in hope that the UK's guidance on this will change. I'm still well within six months of my second dose, but my hope is that booster eligibility will open to the under-40s before that six months ends.

And that's basically it from me. I'm bogged down in my Terra Ignota reread about a third of the way through The Will to Battle, and just generally feeling a bit mentally foggy. Hopefully at some point things will improve.

Comments

[merit]

November has been a looong month, already. I have to start The Will to Battle.

And yes, agree with Lambie. I certainly always agree with her but she certainly put Hanson (and those enabling her) in their place.

Huh interesting re: both shots at once. By the time I got the vaccine it had been a few months since my flu shot, but generally people weren't allowed to get a vaccine close together. Another cautious approach but we'll see about boosters. I wouldn't be due til March or so, but it would be good to be further protected over winter. Best of luck!

[dolorosa_12]

In the UK they seem to be vaccinating everyone eligible at the same time — the flu shot in one arm and the COVID booster in the other. I guess it's more efficient! Meanwhile, I'm in the ridiculous situation of being eligible for the flu vaccine because I work in what's considered a 'frontline NHS' job (in reality I work one or two days a week in a library which caters to health workers), but ineligible for the COVID booster because I'm not a 'frontline NHS' staff member. I'm like Schrödinger's NHS worker...

And yes, that Lambie speech was glorious. Sometimes genuine righteous anger is the right tone, and that was definitely a situation that called for it.