I'm not sure what happened to the last few days

... but they have certainly vanished!

As Thursday of last week progressed, I became aware that I was developing a slightly sore throat and a mild headache. It's unusual for me to get headaches, even mild ones.  I noted it and carried on.

I woke up on Friday with a bigger headache, a bigger sore throat, a cough and a blocked nose.  This was a bit alarming.  Monday was my busiest day of the year.  I really didn't need to have a cold.

By Sunday I really was not feeling at all well and my voice had all but gone :-S

Monday was horrible. I had a very croaky voice, a very blocked nose, sneezles and wheezles, unpleasant aches and pains - and four one and a half hour classes to take!  Fortunately for me one of my colleagues offered to take the last class of the day so I could go home a little earlier than planned. My voice held out.  Just!

By Tuesday, I was feeling very considerably better, except that by then the sneezles had been replaced by a vigorous cough, and the blocked nose had been replaced with a spectacularly runny nose. And that is how things stand today, although I am probably only using half a box of tissues a day instead of a whole box.

And now The Builder has it too.  We were supposed to be going to visit his mother on Saturday, but figured that we would be Very Unpopular Indeed if we introduced an unpleasant, fluey type cold into a care home full of frail, elderly people!!!  We will go another time.

Apart from that, things have been going quite well.  We were at Bishops' House on Saturday morning and had rather more visitors than usual.  The House was closed in the afternoon for a wedding, so I suppose that would account for some of the extra visitors.  Under normal circumstances, the windows of the House are covered by metal grilles, but when we have special occasions the grilles get taken down.  The House does look beautiful without them. (We can't leave them off all the time - the House is in a public park and left empty for much of the time! And they are too cumbersome to be taking them off and putting them back on after every time we're open.)

On Sunday we went to the garden centre to get a few bits and pieces for the garden, including a shrub and some daisies for the new garden bed which The Under Gardener has prepared where the shed used to be. The plants are not yet in place. I was not in any state to be planting things when we got back, The Under Gardener had other things to do, and it's been raining persistently ever since. I'm hoping to get them in this weekend

Where the shed used to be

The week has shot passed in a blur of workshops, lectures, seminars and coughing fits.  Fortunately, none of the really exciting coughing fits have occurred in any of the aforementioned teaching sessions! I'm quite pleased with how things have gone this week. So far the sessions have worked. And now it is Friday, I have the afternoon off - and an unexpected weekend at home.  I might get a bit of gardening done.  And perhaps a bit of sorting, organising, chucking and tidying of all the stuff that is lying about in an abandoned heap in the front bedroom!!!