Cold

Those of you who know me well will probably remember that i seem to either catch colds at the drop of hat, or have a near permanent sniffle all year round. One would have expected - given that i live in a somewhat more pleasant climate (read: warmer, most of the time), that i would be able to shake this off, and be blissfully cold-free for the year. Alas, it was not to be and i seem to have had my fair share of runny noses this year. Some of these could quite happily be blamed on external factors. For example, i got a nasty bout immediately after my return from Canada back in April, but then such things happen when you travel on planes. The time not long after i arrived when i got caught in the midst of a tropical downpour on the way back to work one evening didn't help - nothing like feeling like a drowned rat to help you on the way to a cold. On the other side of things, i seem to pick up random sniffles at completely unexpected times of the year - sometimes they come and go in a day, other times they cling on for a good week or two (I won't say fortnight as it confuses some Americans). The only plus side of this is that i can usually spread it round the lab and, at least, make everyone suffer!!

Anyway, the upshot of all this is - with having a 6 and a half hour flight ahead of me on Thursday evening, you can imagine that i'm fervently hoping that any viruses steer clear of me. I really don't want to spend my few weeks back in the UK with a cold (hey, it'll be like old times if i do!). Not that it's going to stop me partying my backside off whilst i'm there (at least when i'm in Manchester) but a cold does kind of put a dampener on things. I'm hoping that, by now, my immune system has gotten used to these pesky American viruses (much the same as the British i imagine - thank you, airline travel) and that if i DO pick up anything, it'll be shaken off pretty quicly. Fingers crossed.