Here we go again.

I've been feeling very sorry for myself since last Thursday morning. Actually last Wednesday evening to be precise. The story starts at work Wednesday watching the most incredible snow blizzards I've ever seen through the windows - in-between processing benefit claims. Now our international sisters (and brothers) especially in America, will probably be thinking - well that happens all the time here. But for us, in the very South-East of England, snow blizzards are .... well non-existent. Until recently. So a bizarre and unusual event indeed.

So all day long we had these blizzards and gradually we were getting something like 5 inches of snow building up. It was powdery and drifting badly as well. Come five o'clock and colleagues who had left previously were phoning in to say get out of there quick as the ice and snow is making the roads increasing impassable. So I left a five to find my car under it's impressive cap of snow. Having located said car and verified that it was indeed mine I set to with my hopelessly inadequate scraper to remove some of the drift off it. My other half, meantime, had given up waiting for me at the college where he works just down the road and round the corner, and walked round to the council. Good thing he did.

Now normally it takes 20 minutes tops to get home - it took three hours most of which was spent within a stones throw of the council buildings stuck in the traffic. To make matters more interesting, the radio sheepishly informed us that the roads had not been gritted !!!! What Kent County Council caught napping??? Again and again and again ... So we'd sit there for ten minutes, someone would get fed up and turn round and we'd all shuffle forward. But while we were waiting our tyres froze to the road, so when we moved off the car jerked and skidded with the effort - adds to the fun I suppose although when you're trying to avoid sideswiping a very expensive looking Jaguar that someone has inconsiderately left parked at the side of the road, it tends to redefine fun :)

Then I managed to flag down an army officer on a pushbike who told me that nothing was coming up or down the hill as a bus had skidded sidewards and blocked it. So we had to turn round, go down a slightly more lethally icy side road and find another route home.

Now the problem with Folkestone is that which ever way you go to get out you have to go up or down a steep hill as some clown decided to build the place in a valley by the sea. So we shuffled through the roads skidding and ricocheting off the kerbs, until we found a hill to go down. No one was coming up - they were trying but getting nowhere. We went down one car at a time, braking gently and crossing everything in the hopes that we'd get down at least the correct way up. Several vehicles had already overturned in other parts of the county.

Suffice to say we did make it down in one piece, and actually facing the right way, which I considered to be a bonus under the circumstances. The rest of the journey took three quarters of an hour and was made with a visibility of pretty much nothing - good job I know the route so well :)

Thursday morning I woke with the mother of all sore throats and aching shoulders and arms which I put down to stress from the previous evenings gentle drive in the country. But it didn't go away, and it got worse. Then my temperature soared and I spent the next two days in bed trying to get a doctor to come and see me. But they will only come out if you're elderly or terminally ill. I told them I was feeling elderly but apparently that doesn't count. So eventually I managed to drag myself to the nearest out of hours GP who diagnosed Tonsillitis, upper respiratory tract infection and infected glands - and then gave me some antibiotics. So I'm taking these and the temperatures have evened themselves out. I no longer feel like I'm constantly swallowing a box. But now I've got a cough you could clean drains with - and everytime I lie down - I cough ..... and cough and cough and cough ... until I sit up again - which is slightly disturbing my sleep. So now what?

Problem is I'm diabetic, so I can't just go out and buy myself a cough medicine which will help me to sleep. Way things are going, I'd better take my pillows to work with me on Thursday :) But I'm going to see my GP later on this morning so hopefully she will give me something strong enough to knock an elephant out - then maybe I'll get an hour or so sleep tonight :)

OK so now it's later on today and I've been to see the GP, bless her cotton socks. First thing she told me was not to bother buying any of that over the counter rubbish - as it doesn't work and is overpriced. Then it turns out that the antibiotics I was given on Sunday aren't quite man enough for the job and although have started work on the Tonsils and the glands, have quite forgotten to close the back door with the result that the infection has sneaked off down into my chest - hence the drain cleaning coughing. So meatier he-man antibiotics have been prescribed to kick the blessed thing out of town for good - and I'm signed off for a week.

Oh well I suppose I can force myself to knit and do some .... knitting and leave the housework to the daughter of the night and the old geezer. It's a hard life.

Got some more gorgeous poshyarns not last Sunday but the one before. It must have arrived while I was at work on Wednesday and the postman - unable to squash it through the letterbox (weakling) carefully stashed it behind the lid of the recycling box next to the front door. Only none of us noticed it until Sunday when Ivan was shoveling snowdrifts off the drive - one of them was the car. And I happened to stagger to the front door and spotted it right there. Thank goodness she uses plastic bags. The yarn was undamaged but very cold so I got it into the warm and had a coffee for it's shock. Merino/Silk mix Aran weight although I'd say it tends towards a chunky, in a colour scheme called Chinoiserie. Muted tones of lilacs, maroons, pinks, yellows. I must get the dratted camera out and take a picture - so much easier than trying to describe it.

And the only thing to help me sleep is hot milk apparently - so I'd better get some.