Dear LPG,

I want to do a bit of Christmas commiserating today as I share one aspect that supplied a degree of Christmas disappointment with the rest of the world. 

This year I hope that most readers were able to enjoy a Christmas which included half the special things that we are all used to.  There was the odd midnight mass to attend, we had all become a little more used to buying presents online and getting together did not feel quite as threatening as last year, although we continue to have some unusual challenges to deal with. 

This year it was all about the jab and the test.  We were all worrying about if certain family members that would be at the Christmas dinner table could pass anything on to fellow diners, so the answer was to get tested and get jabbed.  

The news was telling us that the vaccination centres were even open on Christmas day and I remember how poorly I felt the day after each of mine.  So, I would like to extend my commiserations to those who were done the day before.

I know that the aftereffects were different for each person that had it, varying from spending the day in bed to having a bit of a sore arm, but the people I think must have been hardest done by are those who had to eat a Christmas dinner without appreciating the taste of it.  

I had my jab a week earlier and remember the pain of seeing and experiencing my favourite flavours connect with taste buds which were having none of it.  

Human nature has taught us that something good to eat is the perfect pick-me-up after the pain of illness or any sort of suffering, which is why we still give youngsters a sweet treat for being brave, and if your jab denied you the ultimate taste-fest of the year.  I truly commiserate, although I suppose any New Year Resolution diets would have been given a bit of a kick start.

Every cloud as they say.

ND, Mottingham