Man Flu - here today, gone tomorrow

I have just recovered from a bout of vicious Man Flu, or something.

I got home from the night shift on Saturday morning feeling pretty good. So good, in fact, that I considered not going to bed, rolling through the day, and just having an early night that night. Anna had rented a carpet cleaning device and my 'blue job' for Saturday was to clean as many carpets as I could in the time available. Understandably, in the face of such cruelty, I went to bed for a couple of hours. I woke up about mid-day feeling as if I had been hit by a truck: every muscle and every joint was painful. By mid-afternoon I had a raging fever and went back to bed. Even with a duvet, a woollen cover and an electric blanket set to stun, I was bone-cold.

I got up for a couple of hours but had no appetite and was back in bed by ten. A cold/hot restless night followed - nine hours of lying in the dark, pondering life's mysteries and wondering who the Hell had moved Nowhere Towers to the Antarctic and stolen all the double-glazing. I felt a bit better this morning, but couldn't sustain it for long and went back to bed for another two-hour sleep. And when I woke up, it was gone.

Total time, just over 24 hours. No coughs and sneezes, no D&V, just painful joints and aching muscles, and a feeling that I would never be warm again. I don't have a medical thermometer, so I have no idea what my temperature has been, but I bet it was in the thousands. Celsius. I'm used to illnesses that take longer to arrive ("hmm, not feeling too good today ... hope I'm OK for tomorrow") and longer to leave. This was like the private sector version of an NHS complaint: in quick, do your worst, and home in time for tea. It can't have been 'proper' flu, as the sneezy, runny, snotty symptoms weren't there, but I haven't a clue what it was. Whatever, I am glad it has gone.

Anna knows me well enough to leave me well alone if I am feeling rough. I don't take cossetting very well. But that should not be taken to the extent of shutting herself in a room with the MonsterMac while I am bashing a book on the bedside cabinet trying to get her attention for a [croak] simple ... glass ... of ... water.

Ah well, I'm back in the room, normal service, and all that.