It must be annual leave when.....

You wake up on the first day of your week off and ...

• your throat is excruciatingly painful
• your nose feels like a tap has been installed and is stuck on off
• it hurts to breathe, you cough and it hurts, you start wheezing going from the kitchen to the bedroom.

I knew I was tired and run down, but I didn't realise that I was quite this bad - okay, maybe I did, I've just been hanging out on the river in Egypt. You would think I could get the hint when the guy in the coffee shop near work was colluding with a colleague to get me to take some time off.

Anyway, I've spent the time since Saturday morning wallowing in the world of Kleenex Aloe Vera tissues - or as my sister calls them - squishy tissues, hot honey and lemon drinks, lemsip, gargling disprins, fresh orange juice, and mandarins.

Today I managed to drag my sorry behind to the doctor and had a lovely 10 minute wait in the waiting room. Thank you to the gorgeous Mia who made me smile by looking at me, smiling and saying hello and waving before toddling over to me, and presenting me with a picture book about ducks and an old copy of New Idea. An even bigger thank you to Mia's mum who told me that Mia didn't normally behave like that with strangers, and then told me that I smelt nice - I was so glad to have taken the effort to put on perfume when I got dressed (if you are interested Guerlain Champs Elysees Too Much - discontinued now - devastated!) I'll probably never meet these people again, but they just gave me such a lift when I felt crappy I'll remember them fondly.

Final diagnosis - bronchitis, 2 ear infections and a cold.