More often than I care to admit, there is a vehicle parked in my neighborhood with a guy sitting in it all day.

I don’t think he’s homeless.

Now, I can’t say with 100 percent assurance, but I think he may be selling illegal pharmaceuticals.

All I do know is the guy is very friendly to me, always waving and saying hello. If he is a drug dealer, he is very friendly and quite respectful.

I will admit lately I’ve wanted to ask him if he might have doses of the vaccine.

You see I’m getting little frustrated. I’ve been told a fat old geezer such as me with plenty of comorbidities has a certain priority.

I don’t, obviously as my efforts so far have been proven ineffective. Now with the schedule opening up more in the next few weeks, my slender priority of age and illness will mean very little.

I’ve going from just a smidge special to not special at all.

I’ve done the pre-registration process and now I’m getting up early to check out the websites I need to monitor for an appointment.

It’s like playing the lottery. Maybe a vaccination should be a prize on scratch tickets now.

You see, although I’ve run into people who’ve gone to Eastfield Mall for their vaccination – I’ve taken a friend there to get his shot – more people I know have received the vaccine through the “I-know-a-guy” process.  

It helps if you have a friend who works at a pharmacy, or happen to have been at a vaccination site at the end of the day to see if they have left-over doses.

I hold nothing against people who have received the vaccination that way. More power to you. I just don’t know any “guys.”

We all need this vaccination just like all of my generation needed to get the polio vaccine. What continues to bother me is the clumsiness of this process. As I’ve noted before, the commonwealth had months to prepare its plan and infrastructure and frankly it failed. It has twisted and turned in an effort find something that works.

I know that in one aspect they can be held harmless. We started this process with not enough vaccine and we can lay the blame for that on the door of the previous presidential administration.

The Biden Administration has taken steps to catch up and I know eventually we will get the opportunity. I just feel I’ve cheated death so far and I would like to keep cheating it.

In the meantime, though, I’ll keep looking at websites, keep waiting for that text message from the state and hope that a “guy” comes into my future.

Tough year in Holyoke

Holyoke will be going through an interesting 2021 – and it’s only March –  with the departure of Mayor Alex Morse to the decidedly greener pastures of Provincetown where he will be the town manager.

Well, Provincetown is not physically “greener,”  – it’s a town perched on a beach – but Morse’s income certainly will be.

Not only is the Paper City at the start of a mayoral contest for an open seat, it now has to deal with the fact the president of the City Council doesn’t want to be interim mayor.

I’m sure the City Council will come up with a solution as they have no other choice.

Holyoke is facing many challenges. We have seen businesses interested in relocating there passing on the opportunity because of a lack of natural gas. We have seen the city struggle with a receivership for its schools. Private businesses, such as Gateway City Arts, that were contributing to forward movement in the city have been dealt serious blows thanks to the pandemic.

Whoever will be stepping in as interim mayor will have quite a job, as well as the candidate selected by the voters in November.