Month: December 2004

Flu

Bed ridden today. God, do I feel awful. The constant coughing and endless nose blowing. My throat burns.

The battle rages on. I’ve recruited new, keener allies. Bananas and yoghurt have entered the fray and I’m drinking water like there’s no tomorrow. Is the end in sight ? I’ve suffered strange thoughts and terrible nightmares. It must be the dreaded flu virus at work.

Up at last to eat and rally the troops. The battle goes on…

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in the lungs, we shall fight on the ear, nose and throat, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the bloodstream, we shall defend our health, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the Oesophagus, we shall fight on the Epiglottis, we shall fight in the lungs and in the throat, we shall fight in the nose; we shall never surrender…

More pointless television masquerading as entertainment…

Holy dooley, I’m Ill

Bugger me do I feel awful. Struggled into work this morning feeling like I’d just died. A damn campaign website goes live today so I had to be in. Spent the morning wheezing and coughing down the phone before admitting defeat at lunchtime and heading home.

Struggled round the supermarket stocking up on fruit and drugs and arrived home feeling truly terrible. I have a very bad case of flu.

I’ve not been genuinely sick for probably 5 or 6 years. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I was really ill. I just don’t get sick. Sure, I get sniffles and the odd cough, but nothing like this. Every now and then I’ll chuck a sikkie or have a duvet day. But, as I said, I just never get sick.

By mid-afternoon I realised I was really quite ill. I had intermittent hot and cold flushes, uncontrollable shivers and shakes and a burning sore throat. I also have a hacking cough as my lungs start congesting. I feel terribly weak.

I know an epic battle has to be fought. My foe, the common flu virus. The battleground, my own body. It would be the struggle for mastery of my throat and lungs. I have to win.

I call on trusty allies. Lemsip and Strepsils make up my advance guard. Crack troops in the war against flu. With 4 hourly attacks they do battle. They’re supported by battalions of citrus fruit, many cups of tea and those trusty old warhorses: cream of tomato and cream of chicken soup. The battle rages as I cough, shiver and splutter.

My fate is to watch pointless television. All day. It can get no worse. Puerile drama turns into early evening gameshow before the endless rounds of top 100 programmes… Will it never end….

Kids came over today so

Kids came over today so we could celebrate Christmas with them and give them their presents. I gave the boys a couple of cool remote control Mini Coopers in red and blue. I think I played with them more than the boys did. Got quite good at reverse skids on the kitchen floor !!!

Had a slap up Turkey Fricassee and a divine apple mousse for lunch and back to London for my last few days at work…

Am feeling a bit low today, think I’m coming down with something.

Happy Christmas !

Well, it’s Christmas Day… hooray !  Aunt, Uncle and cousin came over for Christmas lunch and we all rallied round to produce a slap up feast complete with enormous turkey, roast pots, parsnips, sprouts, carrots, sausages wrapped in bacon, cranberry sauce, gravy and lashings of beer and wine. We set fire to the Christmas pudding as usual and exchanged gifts amidst much oohhing and aahhhing. I got a very nice Moroccan tagine and some cool DVDs.

By 3.00, Christmas lunch was pretty much over and we all dutifully settled down to watch the Queen. The Queen’s Christmas message is a family ritual. We’ve always paused proceedings at about 3 to switch on and see what she has to say. We wouldn’t dream of missing it. It’s a Christmas habit.

Most years we sit through her broadcast in rather stunned silence paying little attention to the substance of her message. Some years she has looked frumpy and awkward, others she’s seemed to drone on endlessly about duty and respect. This year it was different. She had something to say and it hit a chord with all of us.

Her theme was tolerance and her message one of multiculturalism and respect for culture and faith. The production values were good, the editing nice and tight and her delivery assured and sincere. It hit the mark and was the right message at the right time. A great speech. encore Maaaaaaaam !

We completed the day with a family walk, followed by tea and cake, a few raucous party games and a bit more booze. A very fine Christmas day was had by all… !

exploding wine…

The other day I popped into the supermarket to get a few things. I picked up a slighty wet milk carton which left a film of water on my hand. As I wandered around, I noticed a great offer on Australian wine and reached up for a bottle. There was a pallet of discounted Christmas champagne in the way and I had to awkwardly stretch to get to the shelf. Stupidly, I picked up the bottle with my wet hand and disaster struck. It slipped from my grasp smashing on the floor with an ear-splitting crash. Red wine and broken glass sprayed all over the place. The bottle must have been slighty warm causing it to explode like a pressure bomb.

I stood there for a full second horrified as the entire store fell silent and people stopped and stared. Flushed bright red with shock and embarrasment I muttered a startled apology to no one in particular.

A member of staff quickly appeared and reassurred me with a nonchalant, ‘it’s OK my friend’. He calmly placed a wet floor sign by the mess and called for a mop and bucket. All I could do was apologise sheepishly. I felt stupid and annoyed.

The strange thing was he encouraged me to just continue shopping. I had smashed a bottle of wine in the store making a real mess and was asked to carry on as if nothing had happened. I found that odd. If I cause an accident or break something I expect to take responsibility and clear it up. Not walk away. I was uneasy that my action had no consequences. I felt a bit strange for a while afterwards… was it guilt ? It was peculiar.

Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl

Popocatepetl

A meteor shower over the Mexican volcano Popocatepetl. The shower, named Geminid because it appears to originate from the constellation Gemini, lit up the sky with dozens of shooting stars per hour.

Framed photographs of the two Mexican volcanoes Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl hang on my wall. My grandfather worked in Mexico in the 20s and 30s and brought back the pictures. When he died, I inherited them.

The awesome majesty and power of these mountains is breathtaking and I look at them every day.

Linklog

comments spam

Comments spam is a bloody pain. Nasty little spam bots inundate the comments script with unwanted traffic and in some extreme cases have gobbled up unsuspecting blogger’s bandwidth. The problem is mainly on weblogs powered by Movable Type.

It’s so annoying I’ve switched off comments for the time being.

More on comments spam over at Neil’s World

Linklog

Millau bridge

Millau bridge
Wow ! The world would surely be a poorer place without the French. Traditional Anglo-French rivalry tends to distort our view of France and her achievements. But, they sure know how to build in a spectacular fashion.

President Jacques Chirac has just opened the world’s highest road bridge in southern France. The Millau bridge is over 300m tall and stretches to a whopping 1.5 miles long. That’s one hell of a bridge. Apparently, Norman Foster, the architect, curved the bridge to allow motorists a better view…

Commentators lament that a project like this would never get off the ground in Britain. We seem to lack the vision and courage to say ‘let’s make it magnificent’. Media whinging and carping at the costs of large scale public works make British politicans wary of being bold and building big. Take attitudes towards the Dome and some of the millenium projects or the new Scottish Parliament. Even the Gherkin has been criticised for being half full. Some tabloids have even been whining about the costs of the 2012 Olympic bid…

Time for the hacks to shut up and for us to learn something from the French and start building big for the sake of it !