I've spent the past two days at home with ze 'flu. The whole bad throat, tight chest, fever, disorientation and muscular pains thing, you know. Last night was particularly disgusting; I spent the whole night either thrashing around sleeplessly, unable to get comfortable because of my aching back and head or lying there dozing and having mild hallucinations due to fever, finally ending up breaking a massive sweat that soaked my bedclothes at 6am. Now the fever has gone, I'm down to a racking dry cough, a tight-ish chest and feeling like a wet rag.

I HATE the British winter, given that it's mostly comprised of getting up in the dark, going home in the dark, icy, miserable weather and catching loads of big fat germs. I'll gladly swap with any of you who live in a more civilised climate November-February next year.