Swine flu?

I have been wondering if I'm suffering from a dose of swine flu as it is around in our neighbourhood. I have been feeling dreadful all week.

Maybe it's just coincidence. Maybe I drank too much Jack Daniels over the weekend. My experience over the winter was that the flu virus - if it was that - suppressed the immune system, led to other symptoms disappearing and allowed me much greater flexibility in my diet.

As of tonight, my arms look as though they're suffering from chicken pox. There have been a couple of breaches in the diet in the last few days but I have also been taking montelukast daily. Yesterday in desperation I took an anti-histamine and that may explain why I've been feeling groggy for the last 24 hours.

Leaving aside the whisky, I think it started on Sunday when we discovered we had run out of soy sauce. I was persuaded to try a cheap commercial chicken stock on the grounds the ingredients did not display any obvious salicylates, no herbs or anything.

Gravy was the problem a couple of days later when I went to a function. I asked if they could produce me a meal without sauces, herbs or spices. First the waitress told me they would have to cook it specially but a few moments later she returned with a slab of plain chicken, which they just happened to have prepared. Unfortunately it was soaked in gravy. I didn't have the heart to send it back.

RAS