I gave up on the job I was doing last night at midnight and went to bed, shivering. I haven’t had that feeling for about 10 years and in fact, I don’t do ill. Then I started burning at the same time that I was shivering. Oh dear. The trouble is that your mind starts racing away with all kinds of ideas at that time of night. I had the flu jab in October for the first time in my life. But I didn’t have the swine flu jab! This morning it was worse. Headache, cold sweat, no energy. I had to finish the job (and a horrible one at that), but as soon as I had, I went back to bed with the idea of sleeping it off. A doorbell ringing and a couple of phone calls later, I was beginning to think that was a silly idea.
To be honest, I’ve felt terrible all day. Just in case you’re thinking, this isn’t a case of man ‘flu. I work through that – I can’t afford not to. Which leads me to a question. What do freelancers do when they get sick? Do they get sick any less than anyone else? Do they deserve any sympathy?
Post scriptum: It’s Sunday 14th now and I’m over the bug; the phone did ring a few times and I tried to be as professional as I could (if only they knew I was in bed!), I read a lot, watched a couple of films and reset my body. The world didn’t collapse but I’ve had to work all weekend to catch up.
