Sniffle

Apologies for lacking a bit more lustre than usual, but I am in the middle of a cold. The first this winter, so I shouldn't complain, although to tell the truth I have been sorely tempted to spend all day sunk in the deepest recesses of the sofa, moaning quietly to anyone who will listen, why me?

Luckily I am on my own, apart from the cat. I suppose ideally you would have a loving soul mate close to hand, compassionately mopping your brow whenever it looked particularly fevered, or making large quantities of chicken broth from scratch, rather than just popping something into the microwave. Being short of soul mates at the moment, any visitors would probably expect me to run around making chicken broth for them, and to do the washing up afterwards to boot, so in some ways it is a blessing to be an outcast from polite society. Added to which the cat has fortunately been sound asleep all afternoon, instead of insisting on being fed every five minutes or wanting to sit on top of me in such a way as to make it impossible to reach a handkerchief when the need is urgent, which is what usually happens when she's awake.

Without getting too primal, it is always surprising how your body manages to spend hour after hour, the whole day long, coughing and sneezing and spluttering and moaning why me? I mean, under normal circumstances, the odd sneeze or cough is plenty to get rid of  what ever provocation your airways have encountered. But in a cold, it's as if literally gallons of fluid have appeared from nowhere, all wanting to do a hasty exit via your nose. I am sorely tempted to go and weigh myself in the bathroom to see whether I have managed to exceed this year's resolution to shed a few excess stone by means of a mere 24 hours of sneezing.

I've not been eating much today. Or at least not much sensible. I tend to veer towards lots of hot drinks, which is possibly where the excess fluid comes from, accompanied by lots of biscuits. I think the sugar is a vital ingredient to aid recovery. Possibly they contain a few vitamins too, though I am not so confident on this point. Perhaps I am thinking of something else. I did also try some port and stilton a little while ago, which seemed to help. I would recommend it over the chicken broth, at any rate.