On Thursday I started to feel unwell with all the symptoms of a cold. Friday was the first day of my 5 day break and simultaneously the cold broke. I’m being ill in my own time! At last I’m beginning to feel a little better which is fortunate because this afternoon I’ve got to take Essy to Gatwick for an overnight flight to Zimbabwe. She’s flying Air Zimbabwe who, whilst being a safe airline, don’t have too much to commend them except the baggage allowance – 40kgs hold luggage + 8kgs hand luggage. You may well think that’s an awful lot for someone going to a very hot country for a short time, I’d probably only take a few pairs of shorts and some cotton shirts …… oh, and some underwear! Essy, having exercised extreme self-control, has one suitcase of 19kg, a second suitcase of 19.5kg and exactly 8kg of hand luggage. Of course very little of this is Essy’s clothes, the bulk of it is made up of stuff still difficult to obtain, or which is very expensive, in Zimbabwe.

I just remembered something I posted 3 years ago. Here it is, a reminder of how ill I’ve been!