the only cure for a fever.

yesterday was a big day, a going away party for three colleagues of mine who i'll miss dearly. there was much galivanting and carrying on, and i was already feeling under the weather and woke up this morning with a full on flu, the first flu of winter. achy bones, overly sensitive skin, head full of congestion, fever burning me up. my old ayi in beijing used to make me drink boiled coca-cola with bits of ginger and honey, and the ginger would bring up the germs and after a couple of days i would be fine. since moving to china 2.5 years ago, i've noticed that my tendancity to succumb to the flu has come up ten fold. my friend mitch once tried to get me to drink a hot toddy, or some kind of scottish remedial drink. it turned out to be a glass full of warm whiskey and honey. it didn't make me feel better, it just got me drunk.

now, since there is no such ayi, and no such friend mitch with good intentions but bad ideas, i'm sipping lemon tea with honey & waiting for a mealbay delivery of hot chicken soup to turn up, with only the cat to keep me company. hm.

i don't have much to offer right now by way of entertainment, so why don't you go listen to some old episodes of my friend merek's sleephouse radio and i'll go back to my tea & short stories by murakami. ok? good.