Poorly Mr & Mrs Ball

Last week was horrible. So horrible in fact that I didn’t manage to post :(  Mr Ball came home feeling a bit under the weather and revealed that something had been going around the office for ages. If I had known, I would have stepped up my cold prevention procedures - In other words, I would have added a Drambuie (in moderation) to our nightly routine. 

Drambuie is a Scottish liqueur made from whisky, honey, herbs and spices and is frankly yummy.  In the run up to our wedding in November, everyone at Uni was coming down with coughs and colds and I refused to get ill.  Out came the Drambuie and we were fine.

This time I wasn’t quick enough. But thankfully we are both feeling much better and yesterday I decontaminated the house (just gave it a good old fashioned clean really).  

Here are my top tips for dealing with colds….

1.   I try to avoid other people with colds. I also tell people if I have a cold so they can decide whether they want to risk catching it or not.

2.  If you feel a cold coming on, eat plenty of fruit and veg. I particularly like oranges.This time I made some onion soup which is a good anti-oxidant. 

3. Keep things as clean as possible and follow the usual hand washing rules (I don’t want to sound too much like one of those annoying signs).

4.   If you have had a cold give your house a good clean. Especially change your bed and use fresh towels. Give the old ones a hot wash. 

5.    Buy new toothbrushes and get rid of the germy ones.

6.    Give your mobile phones, computer keyboards etc a wipe. 

7.   Try to have a rest whilst you’re ill, you’ll have plenty to do afterwards. Buy some trashy magazines and watch some daytime telly.

Book Review

The Unseen by Katherine Webb

This is the second novel by Katherine Webb (the first being The Legacy). Like the Legacy, Webb writes two stories in the same book that are linked. The 1911 story is about Cat Morley who is sent to live with a vicar and his wife as their servant. The vicar is fascinated by Theosophy (fairies) and a good deal of the narrative is about this. The 2011 story is about Leah, a journalist who is enlisted by the War Graves commission to help identify a world war one soldier.

I didn’t enjoy the book as much as The Legacy. I think this was because the 2011 story was underdeveloped as much of the book was taken up by the 1911 story which was too much about theosophy. It’s worth a speed read but if you want a gripping read, perhaps try The Legacy instead.