Lady Marmalade

It became increasingly clear to me last night that what I had thought was a lurking mild oilseed rape allergy was in fact something properly nasty. All the glands in my neck went into emergency mode, and by bed time my head was throbbing. I woke at 3am with the very distinct impression that someone had stabbed me in the ear.

I haven't had proper earache for a long time, though I was plagued with it as a kid, and had forgotten just how excruciating it is. A long long night followed - of podcasts, paracetamol and quiet moaning (though it could have been fairly loud moaning actually since I was pretty deaf).

Sadly the morning brought pain-free sleep only about 15 minutes before I had to get up to take TallGirl into town for a school fund-raising effort. Obviously Mr-student-B is on a different body clock to the rest of us so couldn't step into the breach.

So, dizzy, mostly deaf and sneezing uncontrollably I staggered round the market stalls that I recalled having the shoutiest stall-holders (so I could hear them), then home for some lying in the garden (warmer out there than in the house) with a scarf around my head.

Weirdest thing is that the piano sounded completely out of tune. I mean, it is a bit, but this was painful.

Anyway, after some intermittent garden snoozing, I decided there'd been quite enough feeling sorry for myself and trusted in the power of a car with no roof to cheer me up a bit when I went to pick TallGirl up. It worked.

More chicken (with marmalade and whisky - yum) and after Gardeners World, an early night is definitely in order.