Carrier

Woodblock print of Mount Fuji and cherry blossom from 36 Views of Mount Fuji by Hiroshige. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

12°C, light cloud
I return: skipped a few rides this week with a non-descript lack. Not enough to call it a cold, but I presume it was one in the background. Or was…
A colleague talked about how she is a carrier, so she doesn’t get too many colds but her husband does. He thinks she brings them home from school. Sounds like a plausible idea that I can relate to.
Anyway, there is a light easterly breeze which brings snows of cherry blossom.

Poison

20°C, light summer clouds. CK:30 miles

I am poisoned. I think it was triggered by contact with Ivy. It causes a reaction that takes a few days to reach full rage. I have furious itching on my hands, especially on the webbing between fingers. On advice from the NHS, tried an anti-histamine. The cure was worse than the illness. Saturday I spent the day with the feeling you get in the days after a cold- detached, listless and fuzzy headed. Hydro-cortisone seemed to reduce the irritation, but it still took nearly a week.

Related articles

• How to Treat Poison Ivy – And Kill It If You Know Where It Is (bargaineering.com)
• Poison Ivy and Other Plant Allergies (goldenrule.com)
• Home Remedies for Poison Ivy (Including Plain Hot Water?) (survivalsherpa.wordpress.com)

Sunny bank holiday

11°C, sunny & light wind

This is not the way to spend a sunny but cool bank holiday weekend. I’m exhausted and am rumbled by ominous gurglings from my belly. Yes, I’m unwell. Confusingly, for a few days exhaustion has crept up; is it stress, lack of sleep or just the unwinding feeling from a lesson observation at work?

Sleep habits have evolved this year for me. Not in a good way though, no more is the solid sleep with a very early rise. I don’t get up before 5am these days. Now I lie a frustrating hour in bed wishing I could nod off at about 3am. Often, like tonight, I get up for a camomille tea in the hope that it will help.

Days, I look at the bike in the garage and lament its meagre 110 miles for the year so far. This time last year, I had clocked up over 300 and worn out the first chain.

Dual sleep

Deep sleep (Photo credit: smerikal)

8°C, light clouds & windy

It’s 02:00 in the morning & my late wake reminds me of a BBC feature on the Myth Of The Eight Hour Sleep. The idea is that in reality, we have phases of sleep- Deep Sleep, Watch & then a second 4 hours sleep.
This does fit my sleep habits that have appeared over the past few years. Tonight it’s early, but that’s work-stress that tore me up. There is a long weekend coming up I reassure myself.
My experience supports the suggestions in the articles. They have posted some good links worth following too. Perhaps sleep is another great British obsession after the weather.

Break back in

12°C, dry & springy

To take a break from blogging and make a return is strangely difficult. Time is swallowed up by work-stress, that much is unsurprising. Coming back to make a post is not as easy as it you’d expect. I may put a few thoughts that have rattled around in my head for a week in retrospective posts here on WordPress.

One week on.

4°C, sunny

It’s been a week since I went down with the ‘flu. I have reached a flat plane area with no sign of improvement from one day to the next. The first 36 hours were dreadful, with me feeling as ill as I ever remember. Now I long impatiently for some change each day that I get up.

Influenza

9°C, white cloud, some wind

Frustration builds when there is no sign of healing. I relented in the end and went to the local GP. she said it’s true, i have the flu’. This is no heavy cold, it’s flu. So no more stupid jokes about manflu. A big part of me dislikes that variety of sexist putdown anyway. Just because it’s aimed at men, does not make it okay.

New book to read has arrived: Zona by Geoff Dyer.

If you’re ill below the neck- don’t ride!

-4 to +1°C
Every year I am troubled by the same decision- when should I start riding again after a cold. Every year I am hit by a two week common cold and left resenting the lost time.

There are a few sites that discuss this dilemma:
.livestrong.com/article/552640

Sportsmedecine

So the conclusion- If you’re ill below the neck- don’t ride!
Does that sound like a good slogan for a tee-shirt?

As ever, that’s not the only criterion, look at the outside temperature; last night -4°C. The air has been extremely dry, so dry that there was barely any frost this morning. There is a 200 yard sheet of black ice on the way to work though. It’s remarkable that no-one has crunched their car on that slope.

Moviral

9°C, rain

Got myself a good old fashioned cold. The sort of throat bunging body acher that seems overdue in this long term. We’ve had a very dry autumn, perhaps the new damp air has woken the bugs.

A dog with cancer

13°C, lighter winds, some sun. CK:29 miles

She’s been ill for a week or so now. A second vet can’t now find a lump, the first thought it quite large. Maybe now she is getting some treatment, her belly is fuller  that lump is obscured when feeling by hand. I haven’t done any such probing. she has (sorry for the grisly details) black diarrhoea which sounds like there’s blood in it. I hope that this hasn’t been triggered by us feeding her sausages, minced-meat and such. Dog food is quite bland, but the change could be the problem.

I have to face the fact that this may be her last winter. She is 13 years 11 months at the time of writing.