Lergied and Laptopless

I really am going to have to stop saying 'That's our last trip south until we go away in Feb' because that does nothing but jinx things. I really thought that after Gdansk I was a fixture here until February but that's not how things worked out and we had another quick trip to Glasgow at the beginning of this month. It was great fun, mainly. However....

For coming home we had booked the final ferry of the day from Gills Bay at 6.30. We like this one, it means we're actually back in the house for 8, and if we're only coming from Glasgow then we don't need to be off at the crack of dawn but can leave about ten, and have a proper lunch break somewhere, do a bit of shopping in Inverness (well browse their out of town Tescos and fill up the car) and still make it to the north coast with time to spare.

For some reason, and very fortunately I had packed everything up last Tuesday night, ready for our 10.00 am departure which was fortunate as, at just before 8.00 am we had a phone call from the ferry company. Our 6.30 ferry was now the 3.30 ferry and that would be the last one for the day, weather the next day looking not very good for ferries at all,  they hoped that was OK....We chucked what was left of our coffee down the sink, picked up our bags and fell down the stairs to the car park. In the car, heading north as fast as we could ( remember this was Glasgow morning rush hour!), we had got almost to Inverness before realising that in the rush my laptop had been left behind. Son No 2, who came home for Christmas on Thursday, brought it with him. I didn't quite fall upon it with cries of joy ( I kept those for the lad himself ) but I was very pleased to have it back.

 

Truth is I have been lost without it (a reflection that opens up a whole new world of reflection and self recrimination) , and that partly explains the lack of blog posts. I could have used my Hudl to do them of course , but somehow couldn't quite work up the enthusiasm.

 

And that was partly to do with the lergy. I had a terribly sore throat all the way back, to the extent that, not only did we stop off at the local shop and buy throat sweets from The Lovely Victoria but  I actually used them. I am hopeless at self medicating and normally manage to talk myself out of  throat sweets, cough medicine and paracetamol but on this occasion I was more than happy to break into the packet of blackberry flavoured Menthols or whatever they were.

 

Over the next few days I developed a temperature, aches and pains, a runny nose and a bad cough, as well as a feeling that there was nothing in the world worth doing ever again except perhaps sleep and even that was problematic since it proved elusive. Last Saturday was definitely the worst and although I am still not quite right I am much much better than I was. Bit of a residual cough (which is annoying because I never get coughs) but otherwise about 90% on top of things. Which is good. Because apart from anything else I can update the blog.