The Spettecake Holiday, or what I'm reading

I realised this morning when I got up at 7.30 to phone in sick (having been awake since 4 am) that my brain needed something soothing, so I found myself watching Fireman Sam in Welsh! That makes a change from work, where we usually watch it in English!

So after I'd finished The Small Hand, an atmospheric ghost story by Susan Hill, it was time to dig out the Spettecake book, which I'd been saving for an occasion like this.

in 1970, when I was poorly, my mother chose this book for me (she is an excellent chooser of books for children) and even read it to me! It concerns the adventures of a little boy in Sweden called Pelle Goran, who is sent to stay with his grandmother one summer holiday, after his mother is hospitalised, having been run over by a van. I lost the original copy, but bought this one, which looks just the same, a year or two ago, on ebay.

When I opened it and saw the quirky line illustrations, which I'd forgotten about, tears started rolling. I told you I'm not well!
So I read a few chapters of this, and watched a few more episodes of Ab Fab, and tried not to sleep during the day.

Homeopathy and aromatherapy are helping me recover, though the advice from my facebook friends appears to be to take crystal meth, mentholated crystals. or use two lemsip at once, mixed with bourbon! I am scandalised.
Leastways, I hope to go back to work tomorrow.