I got a nasty jolt on Sunday morning when I received emails out of the blue saying my two vaccination appointments had been cancelled. No regrets, no apologies.
I tried to rebook and it soon became clear that there were no more vaccination slots available in Ganges, at least for the time being. The vaccine has clearly run out. Margaret and Hans still have theirs booked, so does an English couple to whom I had passed on the information. (They are still not sure if they qualify, as they live mainly here but also in Scotland and are not in the French health system).
I could just wait, and maybe still get the two vaccinations before Easter, but I decided to try elsewhere. Amazingly I am now booked in at Lodève for the first vaccination in three days – on Saturday afternoon, and for the second on the 18th February. OK, it is a tiring drive, the first stretch over the Causse de Larzac, and will take about one and a half hours each way – in the dark for the return. But am I relieved to be booked in, and fingers crossed, this time it will not be cancelled.
My friends Charles and Pierre had found that their booking had been made for Bédarieux – over 100km away with even more windy roads. We can only think that the Clinique in Ganges was full and that they had been referred to another Clinique in the same private group, Cap Santé. I persuaded them to let me change their appointments to Lodève as well.
Even Lodève is two and a half times further, and along a more taxing route, than Ganges would have been:
