Vicious Loop

19th Jan 2005

Snotters, crusty nostrils, tickly throat, irritating cough, big wet sneezes and mild fatigue; and that's before I even venture out the front door in the morning. For over a week. And just when my senses show signs of improvement another unfamiliar germ introduces itself to my immune system.

It's a vicious, downward, spirally, loopy thing actually. Normally, decent weather permitting, I would avoid the whole public transport, germ-sharing environment by cycling to work, thus I'd rarely find myself "under the weather". However the mother-in-law has been so bloody cruel of late I've had no choice but to travel in the relative safety of public transport. So when travelling public transport germs think of it as speed-dating. If they get lucky I get new germs to look after. Lucky me! Then before you know it I've got cold symptoms as ubiquitous as Scottish rain. Pathetically, I turn into a physical wreck and have to use public transport because I'm not fit enough to jump on my bike. Round and round and round.

The recent addition of central heating to my house probably hasn't helped matters either; all that dirty warmth circulating and breeding.

Insult to injury? I've been feeding my cold. With cold symptoms comes loss of will power. I've been eating all kinds of crap because it gives me a brief but admittedly hollow high inbetween the monotony of incessant sniffling.

And it doesn't help when the guy who sits next to me at work coughs and splutters in my face all day; I think he has a terminal cold. Occasionally he courteously covers his big gob. When he doesn't I tell him:

"Thanks for sharing that with everyone."

Blocked-up sigh!