The one with the swine flu

I’ve had swine flu for the best of two weeks. I’m slowly getting over the horrible thing. I’ve been so incredibly bored, and I blame daytime TV for my slow recovery. For the first couple of days I didn’t think it was too bad, just like a bad cold; it seemed so mild I thought it couldn’t be swine flu, just some virus I could shake off quickly, but it was just warming up - settling in to its new home. At my worst I’ve been ridiculously short of breath and tired, I had to take breath in the middle of even the shortest sentences, and even now I’m out of breath climbing a flight of stairs. I can understand why people are being made seriously ill by this thing, it’s nasty, and if you have breathing problems before you get this I think you’re going to be in trouble – once there’s a vaccine out, if you have underlying health problems, go and get it, asap. I’ll be glad to get over it, knowing that I can’t catch it again, especially considering the predictions that it might get worse come winter. Raine’s had a very mild version of it - because of her super-human immune system, she’s back at work and seems to be getting over it now.

I’ve not written a blog for ages, so I’ll add in some highlights of the past couple of months. We went to Rome at the end of June, for my 26th birthday. Very cool, very romantic, and very sunny:-) All in all: amazing! We were very impressed with how much we managed to pack into our two days there, I think we saw every major site – Vatican/Sistine Chapel, check; St Peter’s, check; the Pantheon, check; the Trevi Fountain, check; the Coliseum, check – you get the idea! Our pictures are up on Facebook, if you’re interested. It was amazing – all of it, I don’t think anywhere let me down. If I had to pick the highlight, though, St Peter’s was just awe inspiring – I was not prepared for the magnitude, and the splendour. We stayed in a wonderful hostel, right in the middle of Rome, it was reasonably priced and we got our own room – big bonus when it comes to hostels. On my birthday the hostel threw a pasta and wine party (for 2 Euros a person) on the hostel roof, the roof is several flights up, and it overlooks the whole of Rome – in short, it was an absolutely beautiful setting, and the food was excellent. There were big jugs of red wine, and it was really good wine – better than any house wine I’ve had in the UK. Generally the food in Rome was so good – we were on a budget, but it really didn’t matter, the cheap pasta and pizzas were so much better than anything I’ve ever had at an ‘Italian’ restaurant.

I got a temping job at Raine’s work. Unfortunately the flu has gotten in the way, and I don’t know if I’ll be going back – I have to wait for a temp space to come back up. I’m applying for other jobs at the moment, there are some I’m really enthusiastic about, but they’re very ambitious, so we’ll see.

Next month is a big month – Raine’s birthday, our wedding anniversary, and our fourth anniversary...actually it’s more of a big day, since they all fall on September 4th. Raine has a week off, we go to a local festival the weekend after next (it’s called Tommyfest, it’s a charity rock festival, and if you’re in the Blackpool/Lancaster area you should come and join our camp!). We’ll be camping there for three days. Then we’re planning to head off with our tent wherever we feel like heading to. I’m hoping we’ll get some surfing in. We’d both like to see the Banksy exhibition in Bristol – but the enormous queues are putting us off the idea.

Finally, on the weight loss front – I should hit the 2 stone lost mark very soon:-) At which point I’ll be half a stone away from my target weight. I’ve lost quite a lot while I’ve been ill, but I miss the gym – I’m a gym junkie...