When will bloody cold symptoms go away? I have coughed,barked,wheezed so much that Chico the parrot is copying. During the night I woke with a scratchy throat and took a Strepsil, fell asleep with it in my mouth. I have a peculiar habit of brushing my teeth first thing in the morning, when I spat out the water it was red, thought it was blood, my tongue was dyed bright red so I had to brush that also.

This is the second week of feeling crap, waking up looking like Methusalah`s mother, but yesterday decided to go to a meeting and to carry out one of my reading sessions. The group members are all willing to share a memory and these turn out to be fascinating. J`s father used to own a meat safe, which was made of wood with a lining of metal which was perforated with holes to let cold air in. He knew a man who hunted rooks, one day a sack full of them was given to J`s father. The family cooked them and took the breast off each one to eat, she said they were lovely. Now, until last night, I haven`t recalled a dream for months, but after that story I woke up in a panic, a huge crow had pecked a hole in Chico`s cage and was chasing him around inside. May have been a combination of medical remedies and the fact that I quaffed a huge glass of tequila and corky`s then brandy, all for medicinal purposes of course. Or, if I`m analysing, could be wishful thinking! D bent down near the cage last night to put a plug in and Chico pecked him viciously on the arm and drew blood. He is so territorial about his cage, but when I think back, all of our animals have bitten D, dogs in particular and P`s hamster.

I have succumbed to watching tv during my infectious phase. Adele is a multiple winner of awards, she`s fab. Watched some recorded stuff, Bob Dylan The 1966 World Tour Home Movie, documentary hosted by Micky Jones, again, Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon as The Banger Sisters, Eve Arnold, A Retrospective,Empire of the Seas was great, a four parter Heart of Oak, "How victory over the Armada turned England into a seafaring nation"
but the best programme was Wonders of the Solar System, unfortunately didn`t realise that it was 5th in the series. Professor Brian Cox (He only looks about 15) explored underwater in a pod, ice caps and dried out deserts with tunnels and evidence of waterfalls, similar patterns on Mars and footage of Jupiter`s moons.