Winter's cold embrace, and then some

Shuckles, it's July already. Nobody told me. July in Wellington means the settling in of cold and wet. D'ya like 35 to 55 farenheit? Cause that's it, day after day.
Fortunately I've arranged for a couple of amazing techno-fixes to be again employed to aleve these realities. Satellite feeds of warm France and its Tour de, and my bicycle trainer. I can 'pop' up at 5am, spin to a much easier version of a stage then the boys in France, and simply unhitch the bike and ride it into work each day. Who needs yoga?
And even more enjoyable is increasing my intake of almost anything I wish to intake. Which lately has been tea and ginger. Swine flu!
Yes, the city of Wellington is particularly hard hit by the flu. I've had every warning (and certainly given it right back) having been made Health and Safety coordinator and unofficial swine flu mascot for MAF Policy in the last two months. Every seminar, meeting and training had been attended earnestly by me. I'd learned as much as anyone in New Zealand what to expect. I'd raised awareness and spoken to the whole of them over the period. About three weeks ago, people began quietly disappearing from the halls (most numerously from our floor, which we share with the International team) at an increasing and somewhat nebulous flow. During that time the Ministry of Health switched from a prevention and quarantine posture to one of Management. Which I learned meant acknowledging the breadth of the pandemic, and looking at a period of 12 to 18 months to be hosting it.
So it should have come as no surprise when I got it. The remnants of denial are still within, even as I continue to be exhausted by it. Based on the fact that Wellington is almost exclusively H1N1 effected, as well as my having had a flu shot a couple of months ago (my first) I can deduct that what is in me is swine! What's odd is that I've been almost completely without chest trouble, or some of the other popular traits. What I have had is sudden onset of aches and sore throat, followed soon enough by fever, headache and wracking body soreness.
The last two days I expected to return to work, only to have felt 'touched' enough by deep fatigue and sleepiness to stay in bed. Tonight I see NZ's totals are 9 dead and near to 2000 confirmed cases, though there are sure to be more than that quietly enduring. As strange and interesting as this virus is, it'll be quite a while before we're done with it. Of that I'm sure.

Vive Le Tour!
J