Flattened by flu this week. The career development workshop became increasingly difficult to cope with (although I did support someone else on the course to discover that she wanted to re-train as a primary school teacher, so, score!) but the walk home (slightly complicated by visits to Lidl and Megatescos) became increasingly troubling. Locking into walk and thinking hard about something else got me home but Tuesday evening found me lying in bed drifting in and out of disturbing dreams in a state of some frailty. Many thanks to timscience for bringing me that universal panacea, scampi and chips. Until the new universal flu vaccine comes online, that and Boots MaxStrength will remain my cold cure of choice.

Wednesday was a meeting book-end day, so I struggled in for the morning meeting, seeping snot, losing focus and blinking too much. After that I conceded defeat and went home to collapse, though not before thinking that if there was still a sleeping room at Minas Morgul I'd be able to put my head down for a few hours and get up in time for the evening meeting... no. Madness. That way. Also I was running a veritable tsunami of snot by that stage and nobody wants to see that during a presentation.

Today I seem to be back to a woozy head, impaired judgement and a persistent ringing in my ears, so I'm going to declare myself better and head back to the pile of delayed work and increasingly important meetings.

But! One more thing! I did of course forget my own tenovertwelve. I have a very equivocal relationship with Christmas and see it as something of a complex maze to be negotiated; as much dark shadows of plunging gloom as twinkly fairy lights. Christmas with Jack and Auntie B is my stab at a Christmas where you get stuck in one of those shadows, wrapped up in five sweaters but somehow unwilling to turn the heating on, trying to keep your mince pie/whisky level even enough that you don't start screaming at the television... it probably didn't make for the most comfortable listening but at least the songs are intrinsically beautiful.