When we left Australia and headed off to do our campervan tour, many friends and family wished us well and told us we were about to live their dream. Thank you so much for all the best wishes, but at the moment we feel like we are living more on the nightmare side of things. Everything has come to a grinding halt, not just because of the non readiness of “Eileen”, but because I have been horribly ill. I didn’t feel too brilliant on Easter Sunday, despite the Easter Bunny managing to find us. I spent all of Monday in bed and assumed I would feel better the next day. After a dreadful night, Rodney managed to get me to a doctor on Tuesday morning who diagnosed me with flu and sinusitis. I’m having terrible nights and have to keep getting up to put my head over a steaming bowl of eucalyptus. The pain in my sinuses and ears is driving me batty along with the constant rushing noise inside my head. TV, radio and speech sounds really weird and hard to hear. All my bounce has gone, so I’ve basically been dragging myself in and out of bed all of this week, each day hoping I will be better tomorrow. Rodney, meanwhile is playing hunter gatherer and ace chef. He is an now an expert on gas products, food quality hosing and has cooked up some good breakfasts and dinners every day; strangely I don’t seem to have lost my appetite.
So as we can’t entertain you with any action, excitement, details of interesting places to see and not really any good drama, I’ll use this half hour to provide some helpful hints and snippets of thoughts for when one is sick on the road.
Popping cold grapes and blueberries in your mouth feels really nice.
Take hot steamy showers, if you can actually stand up in the shower. It makes the head ease a bit and makes the body feel less germy.
Be very grateful to your hosts for going away to their caravan by the sea (probably, very sensibly, to avoid the germs). This means you don’t feel so guilty keeping them awake at night and being in their way during the day, in their own home. Huge thanks to Andy & Carole; we will Dettol everything I’ve touched before you come home.
A funny movie, in between sleeps, takes your mind off the buzzing in your head and cheers you up for 112 minutes.
A comfy bed with lots of pillows is a must for sleeping vaguely upright.
Clean your teeth a lot to freshen up a swollen mouth and tongue.
A small pink notebook for writing messages when it’s too painful to speak.
Listen to some favourite music on your mobile (nearest thing to hand) when steaming your head through the night. Note to self, must put more than 2 songs on my mobile…….
Suck the Marmite off Twiglets……….it’s an English thing……
Ugg boots for shuffling around in…….it’s an Aussie thing…….
Make sure you have someone to cook you nice meals and hug you when you’re crying in the night.
Painkillers, anti-inflammatorys and antibiotics……..enough said.
I thought retirement was going to be fun and I would be writing about France by now…….but hey, we’ve got all the time in the world for that, this is just a hiccup along the way.
Rodney, can you get me another glass of water, please……………?
