the day after, i felt so much better that i suggested to the kid we go up the street for a treat. the evening before, i felt so much worse that i was slumped in a chair in the outpatient department, with a litre of saline being steadily dispensed into my arm from my very own drag-around drip. this after two days on the couch with a 39° fever, of drifting in and out of sleep, eating nothing more than a tub of yoghurt and a couple bits of toast — actually, no, the couple bits of crust off the kid’s toast –while the kid mostly attended to herself, watching kids’ tv and playing with a host of stuffed cats, the trouper.

so ordinarily, a treat might be a cake, or a sticky bun, but wednesday it was a pot of detox tea at circle cafe. yes, yes, i know i only just went, but i do love it so.

inside the squat pot was a veritable witch’s brew of fresh ginger, mint, lemon and thyme — the last of which gave the potion a somewhat unsettling meaty edge. without the thyme, it might have merely been pleasant. the tiny pot of honey which accompanied, i surrendered to the kid. i did not think it was possible to eat honey so quickly with a small finger, but there you go.

the food, when it arrived, made me think i was just about healed. just look at the wonderful pink risotto. nothing about it mushy and bland, from the rice, to the chunks of roasted pumpkin, the wedges of fresh beetroot, the wilted baby spinach.

but the walk up the street really set me back. by the time we made it back home, it was all i could do to propel myself back on the couch. my cough kicked in to the next level — the one where you think you might bring up a lung or two. my nose somehow become completely blocked up by something deep in my head which simply would not be budged. as a result, my sense of taste completely deserted me.

so i boiled up saturday’s leftover takeaway charcoal chicken with a knob of ginger, threw in some rice and broccoli, and ate it for the next couple of meals. ugly food for ugly times. it’s true you know, these bugs really are getting stronger.