it wasn't our fault...

How can beautiful, happy little piggies have anything to do with the atom bomb that has hit our household this week?

Our family has joined the thirty percent of Brits predicted to catch the dreaded swine flu... now that we have a baby in the house again it has brought it back to me how flu rips through a family like a tornado bringing maximum devastation... every room is full of half-empty glasses, blankets, tissues, discarded plates and cups, the curtains still drawn... the sound of coughing and sneezing everywhere... the boredom and backache of being in bed all day and all night... the abandoned piles of washing: the trip down to the cellar laundry room now too much for anyone to tackle... one snuffly little nose unable to sleep and wanting to play at 3.30am every night... tired mum and dad, grumpy grandparents... the triumph of managing a small task such as wiping the kitchen surfaces or stacking the dishwasher... lying awake at night worrying about more and more paperwork piling up (him)... a consignment of hearts and bags and decorations promised by the second week of November still unmade (me)... all my new threads still unwrapped and unused...

Slowly, slowly though, I think the tornado is losing its strength... hopefully it won't be long before we are back to good health again, meanwhile I am crocheting in bursts, reading loads (Monty Don, Crystal Renn, Roger Deakin, Rose Tremain), drinking lovely lemon-and-lime flavour This Water and watching the birds in the sunshine outside.

Hoping that you are still healthy and if not, 'solidarnosc'!