Thanks, Leigh Delamere....

I have half a blog post scribbled out in a notebook, describing our trek across the south of England on Tuesday to fetch the aged in-laws from South Wales. We stayed overnight and brought them back to Surrey yesterday, depositing them at TLH's sister's house. On the journey back I started to feel very bloated and unwell. I occasionally have problems with my digestion (just call me the Queen of Gaviscon), so wasn't unduly concerned. I got more and more uncomfortable so was quite pleased to get in through my own front door.

A few hours later saw me locked in the bathroom, seated on the throne with a bucket at my feet. Several months ago I came down with a nasty sudden bout of Norovirus (aka Winter Vomiting Disease), and it felt distinctly similar.

After a rubbish night, I am now sitting on the sofa with my feet up, watching a Poirot and feeling very sorry for myself. 'Things' have now 'firmed up', as it were, but the stomach cramps and tiredness are quite debilitating. This couldn't have happened at a worse time - it's Christmas Eve, for God's sake, and I'm meant to be picking sprouts from my allotment as well as making mashed swede and carrot in advance. TLH has now gone out to get some extra sprouts and I'll see if I can do the swede and carrot later if I feel better.

I think it's 'just' a stomach bug - it's definitely not food poisoning because TLH and I ate exactly the same things and he's fine. I've not been out much over the previous few days so if I've picked up a bug from somewhere, the only place I could imagine is the Leigh Delamere Service Station on the M4 where we stopped for lunch on the 22nd, which was teeming with people and all their germs.

So, the cross-country post will have to wait (I took wintry pictures on my phone which came out pretty well) - I may slot it back in to where it should have been, i.e., 22nd December.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a splended time over Christmas with the minimum of punch-ups and family arguments. Think of me 'enjoying' dry toast while you tuck into your turkey with all the trimmings...