Month: October 2024

Playlist of the month: Halloween Party

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Screenshot of the Halloween Party playlist on Spotify

When it comes to choosing a playlist of the month for October, it has to be Halloween-themed, doesn’t it? In the hope that I’ll have chance to do one again next year, I’m specifically focussing on party tunes for Halloween this time. Here’s the Spotify playlist.

  • Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr. As well as being the theme tune to a cult-classic film, this is a great catchy party song.
  • Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) by Backstreet Boys. Whilst the lyrics are not especially Halloween-themed, the music video and accompanying dance moves are. Also, any song which unironically opens with ‘Oh my god, we’re back again!’ is good to me.
  • She Wolf by Shakira. Not one of her most-played songs on Spotify (that honour goes to Hips Don’t Lie, with nearly 2 billion streams) but it fits the theme.
  • Time Warp by the Cast of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Can you have a Halloween party without people doing a jump to the left, and a little step to the right, while being driven insane by pelvic thrusts?
  • Things That Go Bump In The Night by allStars. I mentioned this song back in March, as it was one that was recently brought back onto digital platforms by Pop Music Activism. It’s now up to 5 million streams as I write this.
  • Witch Doctor by The Cartoons. The Cartoons were a late 90s novelty Danish pop band, and this cover version is much better than the original 1950s song by Ross Bagdasarian.
  • Scared of the Dark by Steps. Again, we can’t have a pop party without Steps. This is one of their more recent songs after a long hiatus, and, like many of their newer singles, is also one of their best.
  • Super Freak by Rick James. Possibly not the sort of song to play at a kid’s birthday party if you listen closely to the lyrics. It’s the song that was famously sampled by MC Hammer for Can’t Touch This.
  • Monster Mash by Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers. Oh go on, let’s throw a classic in here. I think most people know the lyrics by now.
  • Disturbia by Rihanna. And finally another one with a catchy ‘bum-bum-be-dum-bum-bum-be-dim-bum’ in the lyrics.

Spooky Skeletons at Lotherton Hall

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A photo of Lotherton Hall. It's a pebble-dashed stately home

At the weekend, I took our eight-year-old to Lotherton Hall and Estate near Leeds. We’ve been many times before (the last time I wrote about a visit was 2016), but this was the first time that we’d been during its Halloween event, Spooky Skeletons. Indeed, as Lotherton isn’t far from York, I’ve been coming since I was young. One of my earliest memories was one of my primary school teachers being on the receiving end of a flying bird’s defecation, which, when you’re not yet ten-years-old, is hilarious.

A photo of the inside of Lotherton Hall, showing two couches facing each other.

Spooky Skeletons

As well as being the first time that I’d been to their Halloween event, this was also the first time that I had been inside the actual hall. All the downstairs rooms have been decorated with lots of skeletons – some rather anatomically questionable – and there’s a general theme of a seaside funfair of the undead as you go between the rooms. It’s not as opulent as Castle Howard’s Christmas events (we went in 2022) and clearly done on a local authority budget, but there was plenty of whimsy.

Outside, there were plenty more skeletons, and the theme was fairytale characters. For example, Robin Hood (with an arrow in his mouth), Peter Pan and Hook, and Sleeping Beauty (both before and after pricking her finger). If you’ve ever been to Lotherton’s Christmas events, it uses the same woodland walk but there were skeletons all over the grounds, including the formal gardens.

Spooky Skeletons is running until this Sunday (the 3rd November).

A zookeeper feeding a group of humboldt penguins at Lotherton Wildlife World

Lotherton Wildlife World

When I was growing up, the main reason to visit Lotherton was the Bird Garden, which had a wide collection of different species of birds. A few years ago, this became Lotherton Wildlife World, and now has a wider range of animals, including tapir, capybara, wallabies and a nocturnal area with bats and cloud rats. Some parts are a little run down, but it’s also clear to see that work is ongoing to renovate it. We were lucky enough to see feeding time for the humboldt penguins.

Accessibility

Lotherton is normally open every day. It’s not far from Junction 47 of the M1 and there’s plenty of car parking. Public transport is more of an issue; the nearest bus stop is in the village of Aberford and then it’s a 20 minute walk. Micklefield is the nearest railway station and has regular trains from Leeds towards York and Selby, but again, it’s a very long walk.

The site is mostly flat, although there are some uneven surfaces. A changing places toilet is available. Tickets are slightly cheaper if you book in advance online. A Max card discount is available.

Have you ever been to a Greggs Outlet?

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A photo of the Gregg's Outlet on Great Horton Road, opposite the university in Bradford

Greggs, the UK bakery chain, is basically everywhere nowadays. What started out as one shop in the north east in the 1950s has grown to approximately 2500 stores across almost all of the UK. Most towns and cities have at least one; whilst Sowerby Bridge doesn’t have one, nearby Halifax has three. Even the New York Times wrote a gushing article about them earlier this year.

What’s less well known about are the smaller number of Greggs Outlets. These sell excess stock from other Greggs stores at a discount. And there’s one opposite the university where I work.

The Greggs Outlet in Bradford wasn’t always an outlet. Pre-pandemic, it was a regular Greggs, selling the full standard range including the vegan sausage rolls that seemed to boil Piers Morgan’s piss. But when shops could open again, it received new red branding and had the indoor seating area closed.

Inside, you can buy most of the things that you can normally buy in a regular Greggs, but not everything; it depends what has been left over elsewhere. Nor will it be quite so fresh; the sandwiches will have been made the previous day, for example. You also can’t get things like bacon sandwiches, although usually coffee is available to take away.

But it is much cheaper – typically everything is half price. Baguette sandwiches are around £1.60 each, and sweet treats are almost always under £1. Great for students on tight budgets at the university and nearby college, but also for those on low incomes.

Indeed, the reason why you may not have come across a Greggs Outlet is that they’re strategically located in areas of social deprivation. This includes some in its home territory around Newcastle, but also Bradford, Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Cardiff, Leicester, Leeds, Preston, Sheffield, Oldham, and some in London. Greggs is planning to have 50 outlets open by the end of next year, representing about 2% of its estate. Food that remains unsold then gets passed to charities, and Greggs claims to have distributed over 1000 tonnes of food in 2023.

Whilst I can afford to go to a regular Greggs, I appreciate having an outlet in easy reach. And it’s a good way of avoiding food waste. Schemes like Too Good To Go are great for smaller businesses to offload excess stock, but for larger chains like Greggs, making cheaper food available all day for those less likely to be able to afford it is welcome.

So long, Solax local API

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A screenshot of the Home Assistant web site showing the information page for the Solax integration.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll know that we have solar panels which are connected to an inverter from the Chinese company Solax. Recently, I asked for the firmware on our inverter to be updated, as part of some testing I’m assisting with for an app. Unfortunately, in doing so, it’s broken the Home Assistant integration.

As per the integration page:

Inverter models with newer firmware (and also those using devices like PocketWifi) no longer expose an API when connected to your wireless network, they do however continue to expose it on their own broadcasted SSID. To use this sensor in this case it is necessary to set up a reverse proxy with something like NGINX and use a Raspberry Pi (or similar) with two network connections (one being Wi-Fi that connects to the inverters SSID).

Home Assistant Solax Power integration
A screenshot of the Wi-Fi network selection screen on iOS 8, showing an unsecured network for the Solax inverter.

Sure enough, a scan of available Wi-fi networks showed a new unsecured SSID with my inverter’s serial number. Now I’m not beyond setting up a reverse proxy (I have Nginx Proxy Manager running) but this would require purchasing an additional Raspberry Pi, potentially with an additional USB Wi-fi adaptor or HomePlug adaptor.

Annoyingly, the inverter does still connect to my home Wi-fi network, and it’s possible to access a web-based portal by popping the inverter’s IP address into a web browser. But it no longer offers a local, real-time API over REST.

All aboard the Modbus

That’s the bad news. The good news is that it’s still possible to connect to the inverter using the Modbus protocol. Now, Modbus is old. Like, really old. Like, older than me old. Like, old enough to be a grandfather old. Like… well, you get the picture – it was originally developed in 1979 for use over serial connections. Thankfully Modbus can also work over TCP/IP on port 502, so I don’t need to run a very long serial cable and dig out my old USB to RS232 adaptor. Yes, I still have a USB to RS232 adaptor somewhere. I’m only a few years younger than Modbus.

Also, Modbus sounds like a bus full of really cool people wearing 1960s fashion and listening to The Who, although arguably they should be on Lambretta scooters. This is where I would ask Microsoft Copilot to create an image of this, but I’ll probably end up using the equivalent electricity to power a provincial English town trying to get it to generate what I’ve pictured in my mind.

Home Assistant natively supports Modbus, and if you have a spare half hour you can read everything on that page. Suffice to say, you have to set it up using YAML and know the Modbus specification of the device you’re communicating with. You probably don’t want to do this.

HACS to the rescue

The good news is that there’s a HACS integration for Solax Modbus. Once you have HACS installed, search for Solax and it’s (currently) the only one that comes up. Install it, restart Home Assistant, and then add the integration. There will be lots of input boxes pre-filled with default values – leave these be. The only thing you need to enter is the IP address for your inverter.

Once set up, the integration added loads of new entities for my inverter to Home Assistant. In fact, it seems like there were far more than before. The data isn’t strictly speaking ‘real-time’, but it polls every 15 seconds and so might as well be.

So that’s the good news. You can have the latest firmware on your inverter, and have it work locally with Home Assistant, without having to purchase another device to act as a reverse proxy. The bad news is that you’ll need to update any dashboards that you have set up to point to the new entities.

Looking to the cloud

The official way of accessing your inverter’s data and status is using the Solax Cloud, either online or through the official app. From there, there is an official API for interacting with this data. But it’s not real-time – updates happen every five minutes. And I can see why some people won’t want their data uploading to the cloud.

There isn’t a Home Assistant integration for Solax Cloud, either in the core product or through HACS. But someone has written their own YAML code to communicate with the Cloud API, should you wish to use this, although it also relies on the REST API which seems to have been deprecated from newer firmware versions.

Getting the latest Solax firmware

If you do want to update the firmware on your Solax inverter, there’s a handy guide here. The easiest and safest way is to contact Solax support and ask them to do it for you; they can log into your inverter remotely and run the upgrade. I hadn’t realised this until Home Assistant suddenly stopped being able to communicate with the REST API on my inverter. There are other ways of obtaining the firmware, and you can upload it yourself to your inverter’s local web portal, but it’s probably best for Solax to do this for you. Considering our solar panels, battery and inverter cost a five figure sum to install, it’s not something that I want to accidentally brick.

As for the app I mentioned in the first paragraph? I’ll talk about it once it’s released.

The Mersey Tunnels

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The George's Dock building which houses the ventilation shaft for the Queensway Tunnel, one of the two Mersey road tunnels

Why yes, I am stretching out a single day trip to Liverpool and Wirral into four blog posts. The first was our trip to Eureka Science + Discovery in Wirral, the second about the Mersey ferries, the third about the Museum of Liverpool, and now this, about the tunnels that run under the River Mersey between Liverpool and Wirral.

There are three tunnels under the River Mersey; the oldest is the railway tunnel, which is now part of the Wirral Line of Merseyrail. The Queensway Tunnel opened in the 1930s, and is the oldest road tunnel, with the Kingsway Tunnel opening in the 1970s to relieve congestion. As it happened, Google Maps directed me through the Queensway Tunnel on the way there, and Kingsway Tunnel on the way back. And I got to experience the Mersey Railway tunnel back in 2010, so I’ve now been through all three.

Both road tunnels charge a toll – it’s about £2 for cars, but check the Mersey Tunnels web site for current prices. The toll plazas are on the Wirral side; unlike the newer Mersey Gateway Crossing further upstream, you have to pay to enter or leave the tunnels and can’t pay later online. Thankfully, card payments are accepted as well as cash.

The two tunnels differ in design. Both have two lanes of traffic easy way, but the newer Kingsway Tunnel has two separate bores rather than one single wide bore. The Kingsway Tunnel is also the only one open to heavy goods vehicles; the Queensway Tunnel has a 3.5 tonne weight limit, and buses must use the offside lane due to the lower ceiling. They’re also different lengths; the Queensway Tunnel is about 1 km longer than the Kingsway Tunnel, even though the Kingsway Tunnel is further downstream.

Another interesting fact is that the tunnels have their own police force; indeed, there are four police forces active in Liverpool. As well as the Mersey Tunnels Police and Merseyside Police, Liverpool Cathedral and the Port of Liverpool also have their own police forces. That’ll make a good pub quiz question.

The tunnels need ventilation shafts, and many of these are now landmarks alongside the River Mersey; indeed, the Georges Dock shaft in Liverpool is now grade II listed.

If you don’t want to pay the tolls, then expect to make a much longer journey. The next two crossings upstream, the Silver Jubilee Bridge and Mersey Gateway Crossing, also charge tolls (and the prices are similar), so the first ‘free’ bridge over the River Mersey that you can drive across is in Warrington. When I was planning my journey, a route avoiding the tolls took me down the M6, across on the M56 and up into Wirral on the M53, adding around 7 minutes and 32 km (20 miles) onto my journey. The extra fuel burnt would probably have equated to the toll.

The Museum of Liverpool

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A photo of the outside of the Museum of Liverpool

So, after we caught the Ferry across the Mersey, we had a couple of hours in Liverpool before we needed to head back. And seeing as the Museum of Liverpool is right by the Gerry Marsden Ferry Terminal, we decided to pop in.

All three of us have been before, back in Summer 2016, and if you’re good at maths then you’ll be able to work out how old our eight-year-old was then. So whilst it wasn’t technically their first visit, it might as well have been.

Like the name of the museum suggests, it tells the history of Liverpool, starting at pre-historic times and up to the present day. Some of the exhibits may only be of interest to locals, where these focus on specific areas of Liverpool, but for the most part there’s something for those who only know Liverpool for The Beatles and football.

Railways

Of particular interest to me is the story of the Liverpool Overhead Railway, which used to snake its way past Liverpool’s dockyards along the waterfront. Built in 1893, it suffered extensive damage during the second world war and was demolished in the 1950s. But it was the world’s first elevated railway, one of the first electric railways at a time when steam engines ruled, and one of the first to use modern colour-light railway signalling. In the museum, the one surviving wooden railway carriage is available to look at, on a recreation of the metal structure that carried the railway.

A photo of the steam engine Lion inside the Museum of Liverpool

This carriage isn’t the only rail vehicle inside the museum, and a large part of the ground floor is home to the steam engine Lion. It was built in 1838 for the then relatively new Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which was the world’s first intercity railway, to haul freight.

Whilst entry to the museum is free, some special exhibitions charge. The current exhibition is the Holly Johnson story – Holly Johnson probably being best known as the lead singer of Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Which would have interested me but probably not our eight-year-old.

Accessibility

As mentioned, entry is free apart from some exhibitions. It’s closed on Mondays, unless it’s school holidays, but open every other day of the week.

Being a new-ish museum, Changing Places and gender-neutral toilets are available, and there are lifts to all floors. Sunday mornings are dedicated quiet times in the museum.

James Street station on Merseyrail is the closest and is around a 5 minute walk away; the main Liverpool Lime Street station is about 20 minutes walk. It’s also close to the ferry terminal, so if you’re driving, you could do what we do and park there, and then catch the ferry.

Wi-fi version numbers

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The Wi-fi 7 logo

In recent years, it seems like the IT industry has changed how it names the various Wi-fi standards, with a move away from their IEEE names to a simplified version numbering system. This blog post is mostly me trying to get my head around what the old and new version numbers are, and the fact that Wi-fi 7 devices are starting to come onto the market.

Wi-fi version 1 (802.11b)

The first time I used Wi-fi would have been around 2003/4, and it was with a PCMCIA card that I slotted into my Toshiba laptop. 802.11b was the first version to launch in Europe, and offered speeds of up to 11 Mbps. By current standards, that’s really slow, but I was still using 56k dial-up in my university accommodation and my parents’ ‘broadband’ internet was only 512Kbps. A wireless, multi-megabit per second connection was pretty awesome.

Wi-fi version 2 (802.11a)

This would be a good time to note that versions 1, 2 and 3 of Wi-fi have never officially carried this designation, and would explain why standard A comes after standard B. IEEE 802.11a offered faster speeds – 45Mbps – but on the 5Ghz frequency band which wasn’t yet approved for Europe. Consequently, I never knowingly used any Wi-fi devices that used the 802.11a standard.

Wi-fi version 3 (802.11g)

The IEEE numbering jumped from B to G (standards C, D, E and F exist but aren’t relevant here) and this brought the 45 Mbps speeds of version 2 on the 2.4Ghz frequency band of version 1. This also saw me buy a new PCMCIA card for the same laptop, to be able to access the faster speeds, and use WPA encrypted networks rather than the weaker WEP security standard.

Some ‘Wireless-G’ routers offered ‘MIMO’ – multiple input and multiple output – which meant multiple antennae, and faster speeds, with up to 300 Mbps claimed. However, this usually required owning both a router and a Wi-Fi dongle by the same manufacturer and so wasn’t universal.

Wi-fi version 4 (802.11n)

With approval of the 5Ghz frequency band in Europe, 802.11n devices, first launched in 2009, could use both. The higher frequency band offers more bandwidth, but at the cost of shorter range and lower compatibility, hence the need to offer both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. The other big improvement came with mandating MIMO for all Wi-Fi 4 certified devices. Top speeds also jumped up as high as 600Mbps. This is the first standard to officially have a version number allocated by the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Wi-fi version 5 (802.11ac)

The IEEE numbering rolled over, and started back at A again with a second letter in 2013. I guess this may have been what prompted the Wi-Fi Alliance to start using its own numbering system, although it and Wi-Fi 4 were both named retrospectively. Interesting Wi-Fi 5 only works on the 5Ghz band (like Wi-Fi 2), and devices needing the 2.4Ghz band fall back to Wi-Fi 4. Again, there’s a boost in speeds, up to almost 7Gbps.

Both my Vodafone router and Google Wi-Fi system support up to Wi-Fi 5.

Wi-Fi version 6 (802.11ax)

This was the first version to launch with its version number from the Wi-Fi Alliance. It’s a much newer standard, from as recently as 2021, and boosts speeds up to almost 10Gbps. As with Wi-Fi 4, it operates on both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands, but there’s a sub-version called Wi-Fi 6E that introduces the 6Ghz band for the first time. The only device I have that supports this is my iPhone 13 Mini.

Wi-Fi version 7 (802.11be)

The 802.11be standard hasn’t been fully ratified by the IEEE but products supporting Wi-Fi 7 are already on sale, at the time of writing (October 2024). Therefore, if you’re willing to pay a premium to get a Wi-Fi 7 certified device now, make sure it’s from a well-known manufacturer, and that you update its firmware once the standard is fully ratified. Top speeds are now up to a theoretical 23Gbps which is just mind-blowing.

Wi-Fi version 8 (802.11bn)

In 2028, the next Wi-Fi version is expected to be ratified by the IEEE. We can potentially expect speeds as high as 100Gbps, and as with Wi-Fi 6E and 7, it’ll use the 2.4, 5 and 6Ghz bands.

Hopefully if you’re an old school techie like me, this will help you work out how the branded Wi-Fi Alliance numbers correlate with the IEEE standards.

Taking a ferry across the Mersey

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A photo of the Royal Iris ferry on the River Mersey in Liverpool

So, I mentioned in our visit to Eureka Science + Discovery that it’s located in the Seacombe Ferry Terminal in the Wirral, and that a typical visit lasts 2-3 hours. Therefore, that gave us a spare afternoon, and our eight-year-old decided that a ferry journey was in order.

The Mersey Ferries fill a double role. At peak times on weekdays, they offer a fast 10 minute crossing every 20 minutes for commuters. But at weekends and weekday daytimes, they take a less direct route and offer a 50 minute River Explorer Cruise with a commentary pointing out major riverside landmarks. And yes, you’ll get to hear that Gerry and the Pacemakers song too.

Boarding in Wirral, the first part of the journey took around half an hour. You pass the other ferry terminal in Wirral at Woodside, adjacent to the U-Boat Story museum – both are currently closed for renovations, but Christine and I visited in 2010. You then pass where the (much larger) ferries to Ireland depart, before the boat performs a u-turn and passes Liverpool Arena and the Albert Dock. You then arrive at the Gerry Marsden Ferry Terminal (yup) in Liverpool.

The return journey to Wirral heads down the Mersey as far as the under-construction Everton Stadium, before again turning and passing Wallasey and onwards back to the Seacombe terminal.

The ferry we travelled on was the Royal Iris of the Mersey. Built in 1959, it’s seen a lot and various bands and artists have performed on it over the years – Elvis Costello, The Searchers, the aforementioned Gerry and the Pacemakers, and, yes, The Beatles. The on-board interior is rather sparse, but there’s a café which, thanks to a loophole (see this Tom Scott video), can sell alcohol without a license.

Currently the Royal Iris is the only ferry in use, but a new one is being built, to launch in 2026 – and it’s being built locally in Birkenhead.

Our eight-year-old really enjoyed the return trip. It’s not cheap – around £13 for adults and £8 for children. The ferries are accessible though as you can board and alight using ramps, and there accessible toilets on board.

Visiting the ‘other’ Eureka in Wirral

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A photo of the entrance to Eureka Science + Discovery in Wirral

Since 1992, Halifax has been home to Eureka, the National Children’s Museum. But in 2022, a ‘new’ Eureka opened in Wirral, just across the River Mersey from Liverpool, and I took our eight-year-old to visit a couple of weeks ago.

As we live near Halifax, we’ve taken our eight-year-old to Eureka a few times over the years, so we wanted to see what the new museum was like.

Eureka Science + Discovery

The ‘new’ Eureka is branded ‘Eureka Science + Discovery’, and is aimed at slightly older children. The original Eureka was groundbreaking at the time of its opening by being very hands on, when most other contemporary museums locked their exhibits away inside glass cabinets with ‘do not touch’ signs everywhere. Eureka Science + Discovery carries on with the same ethos, and there’s lots of things to touch and interact with. But there’s also more to read, in line with its older target age group of 7-14 year-olds.

Downstairs, you can learn about the body, and there’s an auditorium at the back. Upstairs there are two zones – one focussing on nature, and the other about science, especially in the home. Through a separate entrance is The Burrow, which is a play area for the under-7s and is included in the ticket, and of course there’s a shop and a café – again the café has a separate entrance and is open to the public.

We spent a full morning at the museum. Older kids may get more out of it, if they take the time to read the displays, but allow 2-3 hours for a visit.

A photo of the inside of Eureka Science + Discovery. There is a very large blue cat.

Accessibility

Eureka Science + Discovery is based in the Seacombe ferry terminal in Wirral, and so you can catch a ferry across the Mersey to Liverpool and back. It’s a bit of a walk from the nearest Merseyrail station at Hamilton Square, but there are buses. There’s also a pay-and-display car park, although if you are driving and aren’t using Google Maps or the like, make sure you follow signs for the Seacombe ferry terminal. Although Eureka has been open a little while now, there aren’t any ‘brown signs’ yet for directions.

Being a brand new museum, accessibility is top-notch, with lifts and a changing places toilet. Extra support is also available for those with sensory issues.

Pre-booking of tickets is required, but then they’re valid as an annual pass. Whilst it’s not yet listed on the Max Card web site, if you have a Max Card, then one adult and one child get in absolutely free at present. Tesco Clubcard vouchers are also accepted but can’t be redeemed for an annual pass.

Fully-vaccinated and ready for winter

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A screenshot of the NHS winter vaccinations page

We’re halfway through October, the weather is getting colder and the nights are getting longer. So, it’s also time to get your winter vaccinations.

I’m asthmatic, and so I qualify for a free flu vaccine each year. I’m also eligible for a free Covid-19 booster; my last one was two years ago, but it looks like the eligibility rules have changed in my favour.

I had both vaccines last week. Apart from some tenderness in my arms where I had the vaccines injected, no side effects for me thankfully. Back in 2021, my first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine (AstraZeneca) gave me a fever for a few days, but subsequent vaccinations (Pfizer and Moderna) have been much milder.

You’ll probably find that, if you’re eligible for a free flu vaccine on the NHS, your GP surgery will contact you to ask you to make an appointment. For the Covid-19 vaccine, I was able to book this myself on the NHS app.

Getting vaccinated privately

If you don’t qualify for a free vaccine, but still want to get protected, you can pay for one privately. Boots will charge you £22, and Superdrug £20 (or £10 if you have their loyalty card). Alternatively, check with your workplace; my employer offers vouchers for a free flu vaccination with Boots to all employees who aren’t otherwise eligible for one on the NHS.

The Covid-19 vaccines are rather more expensive – about £100 at Boots, although some may sell them for less, with the cheapest Novavax vaccine costing £45.

If I didn’t get them for free on the NHS then I would probably pay for the flu vaccine. The last time I had flu was in October 2003. The fact that I can remember the rough date 21 years later shows how much I’m happy to have the vaccine to avoid going that again. I was eligible for a flu vaccine back then too, but managed to get flu before I could get vaccinated.

As for Covid-19 – I’ve definitely had it at least once since March 2020, an almost certainly twice. In both cases, it was just like a bad cold (but over more quickly). But I also lost two friends to that virus in 2020, and so I know how serious it could be.

RSV and pneumococcal vaccines

If you’re 65+ or pregnant, then you may also be eligible for one or two other winter vaccines: RSV, against the respiratory syncytial virus, and pneumococcal, against some forms of pneumonia and meningitis. If your GP surgery hasn’t already been in touch, have a chat with them if you meet the eligible criteria.

And remember, vaccination isn’t just about protecting yourself. Not everyone can have vaccines, but if you’re vaccinated, you’ll help to prevent the spread of diseases which continue to kill thousands of people in the UK each year.