Plague week

My first week back at work did not go at all to plan - I got about six hours in to Monday before starting to feel very sick indeed ... so went home and stayed there for the entire week. With my husband and number one son. I cannot remember a bug that has knocked us over so badly for so long - shivers and shakes and coughs and exhaustion. We made a very sad triple appointment at the doctor on Wednesday morning who checked us out but said there was nothing to be done. Rest and fluids! We thought it was hospitalisations all round, but not even antibiotics in the end. She did give us certificates for the week off because she said it would take that long to feel normal again, and she was right. It's Saturday morning and we are feeling a bit wan but not quite so deathly!

And just to make sure the week was extra special it was the week we had booked the house painters. Our house is mostly brick but the eaves, frames, balconies and railings hadn't been done since the house was built (i.e 40 years) and I was getting concerned it was starting to crumble away, so a team of four very efficient painters came round and sorted us out.

I took this photo of my bedroom when I thought about having a lie down, but changed my mind. As you can see, the outside door and door frame had been removed (it was about seven degrees outside) and were being replaced. You can't see but there is a guy with a circular saw outside as well as the painter, and much hammering. So not very restful, but actually we were too sick to really care, and just lay about in various parts of the house while they did their thing. And the house looks much better now, and we are feeling much better, so we might just put this week behind us and pretend next week is my first week back at work!


And of course we arduously completed our census form online on Tuesday evening which took ages because we were all very woolly-headed - and clicked "submit" just as the whole thing crashed apart. What a disaster, and completely preventable if they'd done some basic planning. And their social media management once the crash had happened was unbelievably appalling. I get very cross when public service things fall over in an avoidable way. We will probably do it again, when the website is back up. Maybe.