Well, I've been tired and slightly off-colour for two weeks now and couldn't quite decide whether I was ill or not. Based on how I feel this morning, I'd say I am, and accordingly I'm not at work.

Sometimes I wonder whether the presents you get at Christmas are really worth the rather unpleasant present you tend to get just afterwards, when all your friends come back from far-flung parts of the world in which they've been collecting exciting new strains of the common cold to give to you. It seems I've been stubbornly fighting this one off for weeks now and only just given in…

In other news, Emily's Bagpuss-themed-fancy-dress party was probably quite fun, but I couldn't tell owing to being tired, proto-ill, and cross at having just ruined one of my favourite jumpers; so I stared into space feeling gloomy and annoyed for most of the time. My costume was a Professor Yaffle beak and headpiece, painstakingly constructed out of brown cardboard, UHU and gaffertape. It looked fantastically lifelike from exactly one angle, but unfortunately that angle was from above and to the side, looking downwards at an elevation of about 45 degrees; so from any angle likely to actually be used at the party it looked a bit odd and not quite right. Although my voice did echo inside the beak in an entertaining manner that got me accused of being ‘Darth Yaffle’, which I suppose could be seen as a plus point :-)

Now I should probably get off the computer before I give myself a headache. I hate being ill.