Your mission, should you decide to accept it.

It all feels a bit Mission Impossible, which is odd because that is not my normal reaction when I receive a letter marked from the NHS.  Most communications I receive from the NHS are pretty dull affairs, informing me about something to do with high cholesterol, or depressingly warning me that I now fall into an age group that might benefit from a winter ‘flu jab, but this was something quite different.

It was an invitation.  An invitation to take part in a mission.

Now, I am no Ethan Hunt.  I will state this again, just in case there should be some room for confusion.  I am no Ethan Hunt.  And so it is perhaps fortunate that my mission does not involve me in anything either too physically or too mentally demanding.  But isn’t that what Benji Dunn always thinks before the start of an assignment?  And look how that normally turns out.  Also, given that lockdown rules still apply, my mission is something that I can do without having to leave the privacy of my own home.

The fact is I have been selected as a participant in a COVID-19 Testing Research Study conducted by Imperial College London and Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.  Shove that, Luther Stickell.

Apparently, I am not alone. 100,000 random participants have been selected from around the country.

The first part of my mission requires me to complete a 5-minute online registration.  I complete the registration in 3 minutes.  Beat that, Ilsa Faust.  I already feel as though I am ahead of the curve.  Agent Turner-Tree is already proving that he is worthy of the responsibility that has been placed upon him.

According to the letter, the next part of my mission will be explained to me in a package, which I will shortly receive in the post.  Further reports to follow then.

In the meantime, this message will self-destruct in five seconds.

© Simon Turner-Tree

Simon Turner-Tree is a man on a mission