Local residents

I slept much better last night and when I woke up I felt slightly better, so I was hopeful that today was going to be the turning point. I had planned to go photograph the rutting deer at Bushy Park today but I knew I was not up to that, so that will have to be postponed. As the day progressed I felt worse and worse with a high temperature and I had to go lie down.

This morning I managed to walk Xena on the common where these swans came to see us walking past the pond. It was such a beautiful day, very mild at 17C with sunshine and blue skies, such a pity I could not enjoy the outdoors all day.

With the time difference it is very difficult to communicate with Gavin in Australia, when he is sleeping I am awake and vice versa. He did have a lovely day visiting a colleague who has moved from Sydney to a small farm in the southern highlands near Bowral, and he enjoyed lunch with him and his wife at a nearby vineyard there.

After taking nurofen all day I was able to get my temperature down and take Xena for another walk later this afternoon. This is turning out to be a nasty dose of flu and not just a simple cold, I never get ill and I cannot remember when I last felt this awful. I am now worrying that I won't feel better to be able to go on the fungi workshop next week - it's only taken me about 5 years to get a place on one of his workshops as they are extremely popular and get booked up long in advance - I will be gutted if I cannot go on it.

I know I must be very boring complaining about feeling ill, and I really don't feel like sitting in front of a screen today so will catch up on journals another time.