Glowing

Right, a few things to report. First let’s start with the good news. I have, at last, exchanged on buying my flat!! I spoke to my solicitor a couple of times yesterday to discuss various things. He is such a nice chap and also left a message on my voicemail congratulating me on it and so on. The completion date is set for 15 December, so only just over a week to go. I finally have some certainty that this is actually going to happen because now we have exchanged we are contractually obliged to go through with the purchase. Anyway, in just over a week I will have a home of my own. Woo hoo!

It’s definitely time to move, as last night I was trying to arrange a new phone line with BT when suddenly the phone line went dead. Then I realised the oven had also gone off, as had all the appliances. The only electrically powered items that were still working were the lights. I messed about with the fuse box and managed to find the one that had tripped the system but could not find what had actually caused it to happen in the first place. Basically the TV, video etc don’t work in the living room because I can’t get that circuit to come back on, but I can’t work out why. I texted my landlady to see if she knew what the problem might be (it wasn’t that I thought she would telepathically work it out more that she might know what makes the fuses blow from past experience). Anyway, she replied this morning and her advice was basically the equivalent of when you phone the IT help desk at work and they say “have you tried switching it off and back on again?”

On other matters, when I got back from my holiday British Airways had e-mailed me a couple of times about the contaminated flights that had been searched. I assume that this was because I flew to Moscow on BA recently, so therefore I might be concerned that I am radioactive. Their website wasn’t very much help so I have no idea if I was on one of the affected flights, but I have noticed lately that I do seem to glow in the dark and no longer need to cook my food in an oven because just by touching it it is instantly cooked. It worked a treat last night when all the power went out. It’s amazing how life works sometimes. Every cloud and all that...

I haven’t actually been feeling 100% since I got back from the Gambia and am just slightly wondering if I might be showing symptoms of malaria. I was taking malarone while I was away which is a very good anti-malarial but none of them are 100% effective. I had a look on the internet to see what the symptoms are and found the following

“The first symptoms of malaria are like having the flu. You may have:
a headache” [I had a really horrible headache yesterday which seems to have subsided but there’s a bit of a background ache in my head. Alternative explanation: I just haven’t drunk enough liquid and my body is still craving water having returned from somewhere really hot]

“aching muscles” [since I got back from the Gambia I have had a strange aching in my legs. Alternative explanation: I sat on a cramped plane for over 6 hours and my legs are still recovering]

“tummy ache” [I have been feeling a bit sick since I got back and have been a bit loathed to eat food at various points because I haven’t been feeling too great. Alternative explanation: it is really common to pick up some type of stomach bug while in the Gambia]

“weakness or lethargy” [when I woke up yesterday morning I had to force myself out of bed and just wanted to fall back to sleep, which is really unlike me. Alternative explanation: it was a Monday morning feeling and only weird people would have been excited at the prospect of going back to work after a week away]

I have also been feeling a bit cold and so on, which is also a symptom of malaria. I am generally someone who even if I had a limb hanging off would say “oh it’s fine, it’s just a graze”, but I think I’d better keep an eye on this one. The incidents of people from the UK who go to the Gambia getting malaria is actually rising, which is not because malaria is getting more prevalent but because the Gambia is becoming a destination where people can go to on a cheap last minute deal. Quite a lot of people either leave it too late to get the proper vaccinations or decide that it adds too much expense to their holiday and so don’t bother to get them. Apparently if you get malaria it feels like your head is going to explode, so anything that can be done to prevent this has to be a good thing. Malaria can also be fatal and potential death does seem a good incentive to avoid getting it as well.

Anyway, if you hear of a radioactive explosion in London then it is probably just me, so don’t be too alarmed.