Continuing with the badly-posed, awkwardly-angled vaccine selfie theme. My shoulder is slightly sore but no worse than after a workout. But the spot where I got the shot also itches, which is kind of annoying.

Even more annoying is the fact that apparently there’s a new virus strain against which the vaccines are less effective. Just as I was starting to feel optimistic that seven weeks from now life could maybe start becoming slightly more normal again. It feels like this will never end.

Getting my first covid shot in Kistamässan.

The process was incredibly smooth and fast. Large info signs, hand sanitizer stations, wide queueing areas, etc. There were 30 or 40 vaccination booths lining the edges of one of the congress hall, with nurses who were probably quite tired of repeating the same five sentences to everybody… The other hall was all set up with carefully spaced chairs for the mandatory 15-minute post-shot observation period, with nurses at hand and a large digital clock in the front.

No photos allowed inside, unfortunately but understandably, so I had to make do with a badly posed selfie.

This year’s summer party at work took place remotely on Google Meet. I enjoyed it more than I had expected.

First a tretton37 mixologist led us through making fizzy summer cocktails. I replaced this with bubbly pink lemonade even though there was a non-alcoholic option because it sounded like more work than it was worth, just with buying all the ingredients, but this was a lot of fun just to watch, as TV or something. I have some hilariously funny and entertaining colleagues.

Then we had a quiz on Kahoot while chit-chatting in the Google Meet. I made it into top 5 (out of 80+) for a while and for a moment even reached second place, but the last 10 questions for double points were all music-related and by the end I wasn’t even in the top 10.

The party ended with a live streamed concert of covers of rock classics with song and two acoustic guitars. Live streamed concerts are not like the real thing, but when I’ve met the people in real life before, it’s almost like the real thing. And yet again I was super impressed with what talented colleagues I have.

I have a vaccination appointment!

As soon as the news were out that bookings were open for those born in 1977 to 1981, I dropped everything I was doing and logged in. It took me four attempts to book an appointment because the slots kept disappearing before I managed to confirm the booking. On my fourth attempt I made sure to pick a random time in the middle of the day – not the beginning, not the end, not lunchtime – and then finally I got lucky.

Ten days to my appointment. Then another 6 or 7 weeks after that for the second dose. Maybe I could actually travel somewhere in August or September.

The workouts are happening outside now that it’s so warm.

I’m kind of pleased that I’ve managed to keep up my daily workouts for 7 months now. Thinking of buying bigger dumbbells yet again, but then again I’m not sure if I’ll have the discipline during the summer break, and who knows what happens in autumn anyway…

Ingrid and I were at IKEA.

Or rather, Ingrid was at IKEA and I was at the IKEA parking lot.

There was a sizeable queue just to get in, what with the limits on the maximum number of people allowed inside, so I didn’t even bother trying. Sat in the car and read, while Ingrid queued. She said afterwards that the queueing took more time than the shopping itself – and that’s saying something, given how long it usually takes to tromp through the whole labyrinth that is IKEA.

You can’t see the crowd well in the photo because of all the fences and such, but there’s a whole zig-zaggy rope thing there in front of the entrance, like the queues at airports. And then even more people queueing off to the right who don’t even fit in the zig-zaggy arrangement.

I am so bored with my life. Nothing happens, and nothing will happen, and it’s just the same house and the same work, and the same neighbourhood to walk in. The most exciting thing in my week is a walk to the recycling containers in central Spånga.

The lack of any external stimuli drags my energy levels down. I don’t even want to do any of the things I usually enjoy. I cook dinner without really enjoying it. I knit without really enjoying it. I blog without really enjoying it. The only thing I do is sit in my corner of the sofa and read silly, fluffy, unchallenging books: fantasy romances and werewolves and such.

The good thing (which is maybe also slightly a bad thing) about reading on digital platforms is that I can always just click to get one more. I don’t even need to make the effort of ordering a book and waiting for it.

For a long time, I was the only one working from home, but Eric has been doing more and more from home since Christmas. It’s nice to have him in the house, even though I barely talk to him or even walk past him, because usually all my focus is on work. Often I even close my door so that my video meetings and his video meetings don’t turn into one large video meeting.

I’ve also had to learn that I cannot just walk through the house in a state of semi-undress after working out, and I cannot open the bathroom door to let the steam out after showering until I’m fully presentable again, because the way to the bathroom is in full view of his webcam.

The cardigan is now at roughly the same point where I ripped it up last time. Time to try it on again soon.

I’m making good progress on it, and on the socks I’m also working on, with all the online meetings we have. Knitting is the perfect filler activity for meetings where I am mostly a passive participant.

But meetings are only good for a certain kind of knitting: the kind that I can do with half my attention. No measuring or fitting, no casting on new things, no tricky counting. I try to make sure to have at least one of my projects in a meeting-ready state by each morning. I wouldn’t want to end up in an hour-long meeting with no knitting just because I’m stuck behind the start of a heel or something like that.

This work-from-home thing is really spoiling me.

The libraries in Stockholm have been in covid mode for the past year. Some are closed, some just discourage visitors. And no late fees have been charged.

I’ve had an overdue children’s book at home all this year. The library in Spånga has been closed and I just haven’t bothered finding an alternative one to return it to.

I got an email telling me the grace period ends on March 31st, so I got off my backside and cycled to Vällingby to return the darn thing. It was a relief to finally get rid of it.

Vällingby felt mostly deserted.