Not convinced? Well take drive-in movies for example. Sure they look super cool in the movies, pulling up in your convertible on a warm summer night whilst you sit back, relax and enjoy a film. Who wouldn't want to spend the evening sitting in a car park....sorry parking lot.
But who’s exactly relaxed sitting in a car? Surely the windscreen is going to obscure some of the view. And how do you get Dolby Surround? And what about the toilets? There’s just far too much faff to make it a worthwhile experience. In my opinion, and I'm sure you'll see I'm right on this, is when I’ve travelled somewhere, I want to get out of the vehicle and enjoy the place I’ve just taken the effort to travel to. If I’m just going to sit in my vehicle I might as well have stayed home and put Netflix on.
Ah yes, but what about Drive Thru fast food joints I hear you ask? What about them? Avoid at all costs is what I say. Putting aside Leo Geotz's views for a moment, if the need to eat a burger is so great, you should at least have the decency to pop into the restaurant and buy it. At least you’ll have somewhere to eat it. At a Drive Thru options are somewhat limited. Again, just think of the problems. Where do you put your food before you eat it? What happens when, inevitably, you drop ketchup on your trousers? What about the smell? And the packaging? Surely you're going to have to get out of your vehicle at some point to put away the wrappers, wash your hands or clean your clothes. Save the hassle and go into the restaurant in the first instance.
Which is why, and a rather a long winded way to get to the point I agree, I was pleasantly surprised the other day when I attended a Drive Thru event and it all seemed to work.
No I hadn't lost my senses and decided to grab a burger on my way somewhere. Instead I got vaccinated. I can't believe I'm typing this, but it was actually a very well thought out and smooth operation. Although I already had an appointment for a later date, I'd heard rumours that the recently opened Drive Thru vaccination centre at the airport was available to all comers and all you had to do was turn up with your national health number.
And so it was. Ideally located in unused Park and Ride facility just next to Auckland Airport you just drove up. The first person you met scanned you in to the facility as part of the track and trace system, the next person allocated your vehicle to a lane and scribbled your details on the windscreen, and that was it. Just a simple drive down the allocated lane to a large tent, wind down your window and pop! Jabbed. Or vaccinated as we used to call before the media got in on the act and decided that jab sounded more dramatic. And took up less column inches presumably.
After the injection, I was directed to an empty parking spot where another team member wrote my departure time on the windscreen. Assuming there were no complications - which there weren't - after 20 minutes I was free to leave.
The whole thing took less than half an hour from start to finish and couldn't have been easier. Which is a good job because New Zealand seriously needs to catch up. Get it's bottom into gear and get the vaccinations rolling out.
Although our virus elimination success is the envy of many, it's fair to say that our vaccination program has been somewhat lacking. Or at least it has when compared to other OECD nations. In some quarters this is seen as a failure of the Government but to others more of a sense of priority. With so few cases in the community, and limited bargaining power with the pharmaceutical companies due to our small population size, why prioritise vaccination? I can sort of see the point. The arrival of the Delta strain in Aotearoa has changed the game plan making elimination more difficult but with vaccines arriving into the country in bulk, were catching up.
It has dipped a little in the last fews days, but our rate of vaccination surpassed most people's expectations. In some ways I suspect that the recent outbreak jolted many into action. What ever the reason, it's heartening to see. At the time of writing, 57% of those eligible for the vaccine have had at least one dose and with 60,000 being administered every day we're heading in the right direction. It might not be as quick as some would have liked, but the fact that in such a short space of time since the start of the outbreak we now have a vaccine being rolled out across the country is a miracle. It really is.
And so, on an overcast late winter's day, I took the first step down the road to vaccination and in five weeks I'll be done. Disappointingly I didn't become magnetic, not even for a little bit, and my 5G reception hasn't improved any. Never mind. But perhaps the most surprising thing of all is that I didn't even have to get out of the car to do it. Now that's miraculous.
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