Diary entry 29 April 2026
THE
PROGRESS OF A COLD
On Tuesday
evenings I go to Ponevez Shul in Gardens as a matter of routine. I go with two
friends. It has become a fixture in our calendars. It is a journey of less than
20 km and takes less than 20 minutes. On our return trip at 6.39 p.m. yesterday
evening I noticed a slight tickling sensation at the back of my throat. “Damn!”
I thought. “I hope this isn’t the arrival of a cold!” So as we went down the N1
freeway I monitored that tickle. We were chatting animatedly but at the back of
my mind I felt the growing sensation in my throat. I didn’t mention this to my
passengers – after all, it’s just a suspected sore throat and I didn’t want to
look like the hypochondriac who I knew myself to be!) I was quietly fascinated
at the progress of an almost-imperceptible tickle to – yes – what felt like a
slightly sore throat.
By the time
I arrived at my front door, having dropped off my passengers, I knew that I had
a sore throat. All in 20 minutes! I couldn’t believe it! - Surely this was my
natural inclination to be a hypochondriac playing tricks on me!
I didn’t
feel great. “This is just psychological nonsense” I assured myself, but I felt
a little cold and tired and figured that the best place to be under the
circumstances, would be in bed. And the scratchy feeling in my throat was
growing by the minute anyway, so I excused myself and bumbled off to bed,
making sure that I had enough blankets to make me hot (my experience is that “hot
is best for a cold”.)
I awoke at
3.00 p.m. with a flaming sore throat which had by now spread up into my sinuses.
I’m worried. I have zero resistance. With me, a sore throat becomes a cold,
which becomes flu, which becomes bronchitis, which becomes pneumonia, which
becomes a week in hospital….
This past
weekend Simone and I were debating whether it was time to have our flu shots
for Winter but we haven’t had them yet. We would have gone this week. Now I can’t
go, but Simone better get hers urgently.
And what do
I do about the two friends who were in my car to Ponevez Shul and back? Cars
are great incubators for airborne viruses.
I’d better
warn them ...
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29 April 2026
