The drugs do work but a sandwich is better

[altariel]

Yesterday and today I have had a cold and the things I’m taking are only slightly helping. (The ibuprofen I took about an hour ago has perhaps shifted the terrible pain in my diodes, but I’ve taken so much of it and also Lemsip-variants that I’m afraid my legs are going to drop off or whatever it is that happens when you’ve taken too much stuff in a twenty-four hour period. And I suspect my turkey and tomato sandwich has done more to make me feel better, and possibly the bottle of Lucozade has helped.)

Stupid cold! It is now actively interfering with the many and interesting things that I want and have to do, particularly with Operation Spruce Up Kitchen, the painting bits of which were meant to start tomorrow, only I haven’t been to go and get the paint – because of the damn headache that is the chief symptom of this mere and sordid cold [1]. Did I mention I have a cold? Well, I do.

It is the kind of cold that means you don’t feel ill as such, but you don’t feel actively well enough to do anything at all. So you just get bored, and end up watching backed-up episodes of The Android Invasion. Even more annoyingly, I may have to Eat My Words about ‘The Android Invasion’, which is turning out to be considerably less rubbish than I once claimed it was slightly over fifteen years ago on a university bulletin board – the ensuing e-hostilities about which constituted mine and mraltariel’s first ever communications. Since tomorrow is our fifteenth anniversary, this has some kind of symmetry, the nature of which I have not yet determined. Stupid cold. It’s even making ‘The Android Invasion’ look good.

It did not, at least, spoil my enjoyment of the rather delicious birthday dinner which we had last night at La Porte des Indes. Menu here [2]. Yes, I know that says it’s a Valentine’s Day menu, but then if your birthday is as February 14th mraltariel’s is, you tend to find yourself eating Valentine’s Day menus. Actually, you tend not to be able to get a booking anywhere, or else you end up in a too-full restaurant, surrounded by people who look like they’re not having as nice a time as they would like. But they’d staggered the bookings, so it felt comfortably full (although the woman opposite did look like she wasn’t having as nice a time as she would have liked, but that was chiefly because her horrid boyfriend spent the first ten minutes talking LOUDLY INTO HIS MOBILE ABOUT BUSINESS rather than making the evening All About Her. "Chuck him!" we kept muttering at her).

Oh well, that’s LJ done. What can I do now to ease the terrible aching boredom? Aha, is that a Phryne Fisher I see before me...?

1. I have just finished all the Jill books by Ruby Ferguson, and these are Jill’s favourite condemnatory adjectives..

2. No, I did not eat the scallops. They would almost certainly have made me ill, which would have been a total misery on top of My Cold. .

Comments

[gair.livejournal.com]

Colds are mere and sordid. ::agrees heartily:: Hope you are better soon.

[kathyh]

I have just finished all the Jill books by Ruby Ferguson

I used to love those. My disappointment when I actually got on a horse and then fell off it almost immediately was crushing. I was obviously never going to emulate Jill and win rosettes in gymkhanas!

Having suffered from two colds since just before Christmas I feel your pain. Hope it gets better soon.

[applegnat.livejournal.com]

... they don't put garlic and coconut chips in anything in Calcutta. Not together, at least. What a very strange delusion for those restaurateurs to labour under.

It still looks yummalicious enough for a celebratory dinner on the birthday of so fine a one as Mr A.

May the mere and sordid cold die a wasting death and leave you hale and hearty in no time at all!

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

Sorry about the cold ;-( Glad it didn't spoil Mr A's birthday though. The menu looks yummy - did you finish off with a Kamasutra chocolate?

Don't go straining yourself in the kitchen until you're feeling all recovered.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Get well soon!

I always enjoy looking at Indian restaurant menus. I've heard of La Porte des Indes but never actually been there.

[lame-pegasus.livejournal.com]

That menu makes my mouth water in a most embarrassing way, Valentine or not. And I'm sorry about that silly cold! *sends Vicks and some extra, warm blankets*

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

oooh, you've introduced me to a new pony series! How much did I love the Pullein-Thompson sisters' oeuvre in my youth.

Happy belated to m. altariel and hope your cold retreats quickly.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

Boo to your mere and sordid cold! I hope it buggers off, much in the manner of the lobsters.

There is probably some kind of synchronicitous/wheel of time thingy going on with you, Mr A and the invading androids, but all will probably be revealed in the last episode. Or something.

The meal sounds delicious!

I hope Phryne is very comforting. Perhaps you could pretend Jefferson is a pony and enjoy him as Jill does her ponies?

*hugs*

[thanatos-kalos.livejournal.com]

::hugs and antivirals:: I hope you feel better soon!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

They are absolutely brilliant; Jill's voice is hilarious. Oh, and apparently they are just coming back into print!

Thanks for the birthday and cold well wishes :-)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Hey, I was just poking around online looking for a link for the Jill books for forodwaith, and I found these people, who are just about to reprint them, and who have just opened a children's bookshop near you. Have you found it? Have we talked about it? (And apologies in advance if my stupid lousy memory means I have lost an entire conversation with you about this.)

[the-wild-iris.livejournal.com]

Sorry you're not feeling well - glad it didn't spoil the dinner and hope it doesn't dampen your anniversary. Definitely keep feeding the cold. Breathing in hot air is also supposed to be good for colds, though I've never quite figured out how one is supposed to achieve this.

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thank you for mentioning it. I haven't been down that way in a while so I shall have to investigate. And if we did have a conversation about it already, I've lost it too.

The 'Jill' books!

[gauroth.livejournal.com]

Oh oh oh! I loved them (and the Pullein-Thompsons, and 'The Silver Brumby' books) when I was in my teenage horse-mad years. I especially liked Mrs 'No Relation To Bing' Crosby.

Of course, the one time I actually went riding, all the ponies bolted and I fell off... Story of my life, really.

That menu looks _meltingly_ delicious! Yumm!

Drat! Forgot to add - Get Well Soon. Colds are a pain; but when it's over one really appreciates the simple pleasure of being able to breathe. In my experience, anyway!

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, how unpleasant. I hope you feel better soon. Colds really are rubbish. Glad you still managed to have fun at dinner, and I think that those medicines lie about how much you can take within 24 hours, I'm sure I've mixed paracetomol and lemsip multiple times with no ill effects. Just don't accidentally take them all or anything and you'll be fine, just slightly woozy and pain-free. Possibly long-term it might destroy your liver.

[ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com]

considerably less rubbish than I once claimed it was slightly over fifteen years ago on a university bulletin board – the ensuing e-hostilities about which constituted mine and mraltariel’s first ever communications. Since tomorrow is our fifteenth anniversary, this has some kind of symmetry, the nature of which I have not yet determined.

*giggle* Oh, that's absolutely lovely. True fannish love :)

[ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com]

Dur. I am Half a Comment Woman. Was going to say, yeah, I've been getting colds like that all eeffing winter. I feel your pain. Lemsip makes me stoned though, so you're one step above me :)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Geeky as all get-out :-)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Lemsip seems to be making my eyes water, which is less fun than being stoned *sigh*

[altariel.livejournal.com]

*hugs back in a non-infectious way* Thank you!

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

Boo, I hope that you're feeling better by today, and also that your legs haven't dropped off. Yet, anyway.

Happy anniversary today!

[metamorphosa.livejournal.com]

Yeargh (or, something along those lines). I hope you're feeling a little better today, and that the meal wasn't spoiled too much by being under the weather. I haven't decided whether I'm worse off or better off for the fact I can't have NSAIDS, though right now I'm *definitely* thinking I'm worse off!

Happy Anniversary! Fifteen years. Wow. Congratulations. :)

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

That menu is stunning!

Hope you're feeling better by now. I'm a day or so behind with my LJ reading-and-commenting.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Feeling much better, thank you - well enough to slap paint onto walls, although I think I may sleep well tonight!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Feeling much better, thank you - well enough to slap paint on walls, at any rate. Although we'll see in the morning...

Thanks for the anniversary wishes :-)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'd like to kick my dependence on things like ibuprofen, I'm sure I'm just storing up trouble. And I'm sure they used to work better than this on me.

Thank you for the anniversary wishes!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Hope you find it - and hope the place survives! I don't think I'd seen any of their books before, they do look lovely, not to mention pony-themed.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Feeling an awful lot better today, thank you :-) I've tried breathing in steam in the past for a blocked nose: I thought it worked OK, but Wikipedia is adamant it's bollocks!

Re: The 'Jill' books!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Rather splendidly, the Jill books are coming back into print (we just picked them up in various second-hand editions). I've never been riding, although I was bitten by a donkey once.

Much better today, thank you, enough to start slapping paint on walls. And yes - I really am enjoying being able to breathe again!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I sort of gaily and blithely kept on taking a whole cocktail of stuff up until today, and I seem to have got away with it. I'm not convinced nany of it made any difference, to be honest, I felt much better whenever I ate.

And today I scrubbed walls down and put paint on them, so I must be feeling better, yay!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Much better today, thank you - well enough to scrub down walls and put paint on them. I say well enough, I'll see how I feel in the morning.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm feeling much better today.

It was a splendid meal, absolutely delicious, complex and subtle flavours. Yum!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Curry was absolutely the right thing to be eating with a cold, I have to say.

Felt a lot better today and scrubbed all the walls. Let's see how I feel in the morning...!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The Jill books are coming back into print, apparently. I would never have dared go anywhere near horses as a child: I was very physically timid. Rosettes and gymkhanas were right out!

Feeling a lot better today, thank you. Much sympathy for your recurrent colds: horrid to shake one off just to have another start.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It was absolutely scrumptious and curry was definitely the thing to be eating with a cold! *snuggles under blankets and feels cosy!*

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Good! :) Given their prices, it would have been a big disappointment if it hadn't been.

[(Anonymous)]

Feeling any better yet?

Dwim

Re: The 'Jill' books!

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I read 'The Silver Brumby' when I was about ten and really keen on animal books. It made such a big impression that I think I mentioned it in an LJ post about my childhood reading.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Was feeling absolutely crappy until today. Had a fairly bad night's sleep last night, but felt well enough this afternoon to make a start on painting the kitchen. I don't think I've overdone it, and I should get a good night's sleep. And the curry delivery has just arrived, so things continue to look up! Thanks for asking :-)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Calcutta via Brussels and Marble Arch. But it was indeed yummalicious!

The mere and sordid cold has been shown the door, I think, at least enough to paint some walls today. Thank you!

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Sorry a stupid cold had to spoil your doublely-romantic holiday.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Fortunately we were eating curry, absolutely the best thing to be having with a head cold, I reckon! :-)

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

If all those spices won't clear out your stuffed-up head, nothing will!