And so we come to the end of yet another year.

Thanks to the Omicron variant of Covid you could be excused for thinking 2021 has only taken us back to square one.

Just as depressing are the headlines suggesting that not everybody was in it together, even while most of us were following tough rules.

However, whenever we look back on 2021 in the future, those of us with clear consciences will recall how it went down in the history books as the Year of the Vaccine.

Back in January my wife and I had enough spare time on our hands to answer the call for volunteers to help the roll-out at Steam.

We wanted to do something to fight back against the virus, and I have spent a lot of time in a hi-vis jacket, waving at cars, pointing at parking spaces and fetching wheelchairs.

People have been really grateful, and some even stop to thank you personally, as if you are making some kind of sacrifice.

So I will let you into a secret about the volunteers helping with the vaccines: we like it.

There are many reasons why it is a pleasure, from being part of an immensely efficient team and having the honour of working alongside the real-life superheroes employed by the NHS, to working with interesting new people.

Honestly, we would do it for free.

But they insist on paying us in a currency that is dear to my heart - all the tea you can drink and all the biscuits you can eat.

It has also been a joy to be reassured that despite some of the things you see on the news and on social media, in reality the vast majority of human beings are decent people and a pleasure to meet.

Yes, awkward people exist, but what our experience at Steam has confirmed is that the grumpy ones are a tiny minority, and quickly forgotten.

Thankfully, even rarer are those people who have their own ideas about how society works, and demand the so-called ‘right’ to do otherwise, on the grounds that they just don’t like to be told what to do - not even by people who know better.

This applies even if it is potentially damaging or even deadly for other people.

And just as sad is how miserable and isolated they make themselves by subscribing to such attitudes.

If only there was a vaccine to alleviate that too.

Then again - they would probably refuse it.

At the start of the year we were especially glad to feel that we were ‘doing our bit’ at Steam, however small, but as the year has gone on, the reality has slowly dawned on us.

It’s now clear that, in fact, everybody coming for their vaccines and boosters (if they can) has also been doing their bit by limiting the impact of the virus.

So let’s end the year by saying thank-you to everyone who has already had the vaccine or soon will.