Living in fear of contracting the swine flu

6 August 2009

I am probably a hypochondriac: all the talk of the swine flu makes me nervous, and I constantly look for (imaginary) symptoms. This morning, though, I woke up with a sore throat, a runny nose and a slight headache. I have a headache every so often, but rarely a sore throat. Then I started to feel feverish and fatigued. There was nothing imaginary about them. I struggled through the day with an aspirin tablet and a copious amount of tea.

A couple of days ago, I was happily on my way home from central London on the tube, doing the londonpaper’s ‘difficult’ sudoku. A man sat next to me, who coughed and sneezed all the way. His face was red, his nose runny, and his forehead sweaty. Well, it may have been him who gave me this cold or flu. Perhaps it wasn’t. But in a city like London, once it spreads, there is very little you can do, if you need to go outside.

In all likelihood, I’ll be fine tomorrow.