Monday, May 02, 2005

Itching for it

Long weekend and the sun is shining brightly when I get out of work on Friday, early, because I'm on a training course. Weekend is looking good for putting the barbecue together and cooking outdoors. Well that would have been the plan if the weather hadn't done its bank holiday thing and chucked it down in buckets. Then I wake up on Saturday morning feeling really hot. Into the bathroom and my face is bright red, my arms are itching and up in goosebumps and then I realise its not just my arms, its all over! I'm not one given to panic, and I'm due to make breakfast, so I pop out for rolls and slice (Lorne sausage, not square not round, just plain SLICE!) and go into the chemist and buy Piriton, having self diagnosed an allergic reaction. Thing is, I have never had an allergic reaction to anything in my life. At this point I make breakfast, thewife gets up and has a look at me and she too diagnoses an allergic reaction, she has some medical training, having watched every episode of every medical drama on TV as well as a nursing background so we begin to ponder what it might have been. First up and truly terrifying is the possibility of it being alcohol. theboss has an allergy to alcohol and turns bright red and itches when she drinks almost any kind of alcohol. Then there are some pills that I am on which have a rash as a side effect, but I've been on those for ages without problems. thewife then reminds me of her sudden allergy to Non Steroidal Anti-Inflamatory drugs, after having used them for years. The she hits on the free sample of Surf that she used for the last batch of washing. The Piriton works quite quickly and I'm a lot less red and a lot less itchy. She phones the on call doctor anyway and has one of those conversations in medicalese that I barely understand and the consensus reached is that its probably the Surf, but to keep an eye on symptoms in case it worsens or goes anaphyllactic. So later that night, we cook the best lamb shanks I have ever tasted in my life. Actually they are the only lamb shanks I have ever tasted and they were bloody good. Downed with a couple of bottles of wine with absolutely no repercussions. Gon ya dancer! Wine out of the equation, next morning pills are no longer suspects, so its lets do that whole washing again. Surf, you bastards, how dare you put a bag of skin irritant through our letter box.


Meanwhile back at the election, if it wasn't for the posters on lamp-posts and the occasional political broadcast and the news and the papers you'd hardly know there was one on. Good piece in today's Guardian by Gary Younge, just in case there are waverers out there.
posted by timesnewroman at 8:42 AM  

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