Booster shot

Today we got our third vaccine shot. We just passed the five month mark since our second shot so we became eligible to get the booster. We made the appointment online which was a smooth process. At 5 PM we went to Trestina a small town north of us as we couldn’t get into the Umbertide clinic. Not an issue, it was only a 15 minute drive.

We arrived and there was no line. We went in and each were processed in. We had downloaded and filled in all the paperwork, which was checked. Then we went to the chairs spaced across the room. The woman called out “avanti” to Luther immediately. Within a minute I went in and the two of us went into the next room to get our jabs. We returned to the big room to wait ten minutes and were on our way. The whole process took no more than twenty minutes. Italy has got this DOWN! Here is the waiting room.

We drove straight home. The full moon hung low and illuminated the hills around us. The Christmas lights are all on in Umbertide. I finally took a picture of our town tree.

Exciting news! The Economist voted Italy the Winner of its “country of the year” award. The award goes not to the biggest, the richest or the happiest, but to the one that in their view improved the most in 2021.

From The Economist: “That honour goes to Italy. Not for the prowess of its footballers, who won Europe’s big trophy, nor its pop stars, who won the Eurovision song contest, but for its politics. The Economist has often criticised Italy for picking leaders, such as Silvio Berlusconi, who could usefully have followed the Eurovision-winning song’s admonition to “shut up and behave”. Because of weak governance, Italians were poorer in 2019 than they had been in 2000. Yet this year, Italy changed.

In Mario Draghi, it acquired a competent, internationally respected prime minister. For once, a broad majority of its politicians buried their differences to back a programme of thoroughgoing reform that should mean Italy gets the funds to which it is entitled under the eu’s post-pandemic recovery plan. Italy’s covid vaccination rate is among the highest in Europe. And after a difficult 2020, its economy is recovering more speedily than those of France or Germany. There is a danger that this unaccustomed burst of sensible governance could be reversed. Mr Draghi wants to be president, a more ceremonial job, and may be succeeded by a less competent prime minister. But it is hard to deny that the Italy of today is a better place than it was in December 2020. For that, it is our country of the year. Auguroni! “
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Finally, a mystery for you all. Here is a photo of a small sticker that has been stuck on the wall on our street for many years. We have googled and have found even more mystery… Who is Ernest Olkowski? And why was he right? 😳

Ciao for now!

4 thoughts on “Booster shot

  1. Nancy Hampton Post author

    Hey Matt, yeah probably a big hoax. I looked it up and the stickers are all over. Something to do with 2024 countdown, go figure. Omicron is worldwide, and Italy’s numbers are up but not as bad as some places. There are now six regions that have moved from white to yellow. One is headed for orange. I fear we have not dodged the bullet.

  2. Matthew Daub

    So glad to hear you guys got your boosters and Italy is doing well. They say we’re facing another wave here in the US with the omicron variant spreading so rapidly… who knows? And I’ll bet this Ernest Olkowski thing is just another variant of human gullibility syndrome – like Q-anon, maybe without the politics. There are probably a couple of college students somewhere laughing it up right now. 😉

  3. Audrey

    apparently those stickers are all over. Reddit has a few threads about it. Someone said there is a countdown to 2024. someone else said that on one of the IG pages something spelled backwards is a lake in Canada. A mystery for sure, LOL

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