14^th July 2013

Those of you who know me know that I’m not keen on taking medication. In fact I haven’t taken any pharmaceutical medication since 2007. It sticks a bit in the craw that I have to have the yellow fever vaccine just to get into Cameroon, but I respect the country’s regulations. I called the authorised centre last week (discovered there’s one just round the corner from me) to find out how to go about getting the vaccine.

They have a travel clinic once a week on a Friday. You have to book in advance and pay £52.00 in cash. No cards or cheques accepted. The receptionist said they had no vacancies for the next three weeks (must be the holiday season), then she noticed a cancellation for the following day.

‘I’ll have it,’ my lips said, before my brain was fully engaged. There’s something about scarcity that makes people make rash decisions.

It later occurred to me that my plan was to get my body strong and cleansed before putting the poison of the vaccine in it. I had to call the next day and cancel. I’m now on a regime of getting my body fit, strong and cleansed. It should take about three weeks – time enough as the minimum time before travel for the vaccine to take effect is ten days.