Her generosity knows no bounds. Being a devoted wife (more devoted than I deserve) Noreen decided that I should be allowed to share her latest snotty cold. I declined to be enthused. But no matter I was given a share anyway. Such generosity!

In the process of trying to slough off this torment over the last couple of days I was set to wonder about the modern common cold.

Are colds really so much more virulent now? I have no memory of feeling so flu-y, so depressed, so totally incapable and so absolutely wiped out with colds when I was younger. One seems much less able to work through colds these days. Are we becoming less resistant to these viruses? Or are the viruses themselves becoming more virulent? Is it a delusion; a trick of memory? Or is this some effect of ageing; we are affected more as we get older, despite (one would have thought) having built up better resistance? I don’t know, but I certainly seem to feel worse with colds now than I did in days of yore.

I was also pondering the art of nose-blowing, as one does! I’ve always been a sniffer rather than a blower. Nasty habit I know, but more effective for me unless my nose is really full. I remember as a kid always being told “Blow, don’t sniff”. But blowing my nose was a total waste of time; hard as I tried it did no good and produced little result. By comparison sniffing cleared my nose. Now I’m prepared to believe this may be partly in the technique, and that I never succumbed to best practice in nose-blowing technique; but maybe that’s because I’m a sniffer? Is this a slightly circular argument? Could it be that my nose is constructed (I typed “constricted”, maybe that’s better?) such that sniffing works for me and blowing won’t? Something to do with the fine structure of the anatomy? And maybe it all relates to my long-standing history of sinus problems? Which is chicken and which is egg? Do I have sinus problems because I sniff, or vice versa.

Given the amount of time lost because of such stupid little viruses, we demand answers to these fundamental questions of the universe.

Off for another hot toddy or three. Chin-chin!