Just a Quickie

No, I haven't disappeared off the planet. I did get stuck in China for an extra week, thanks to an exploding Icelandic volcano. You can read all about it on my Travel Blog.

Since I got back I have been catapaulted into work and trying to sort out my house. It appears the world disintegrates when I am not there. My cleaner, who has become increasingly unreliable since about October, has decided to just stop coming altogether. In fact, this week, she didn't even bother texting me with a flimsy excuse. I guess she doesn't want the job anymore.

Anyway, I mobilized the Chaos Army with bribery and corruption - in other words, promised to pay the kids for each of the jobs they did. It had a clear motivating effect and my house looks slightly less disgusting. The kids are richer, and notably, it cost me less than my cleaner did (although maybe the standard is not quite as high).

We have a Couchsurfer coming to stay today. She's from Germany and is staying for a week. Nick is going to pick her up from the train station while I'm at the kids' swimming lessons.

Saskia isn't going swimming today. Yesterday evening around dinnertime, she said
"My head feels funny".

Within five minutes she was screaming with a severe pain behind her eyes. It was so sudden and violent, that I rushed her off to A&E. She was screaming "Help me, Mummy" and there was nothing I could do.

The doctors put her in a darkened room, checked for meningitis, and dosed her up with pain-killers. She screamed for an hour before the migraine wore off, meanwhile every possible horror waltzed through my imagination. The doctor reckoned she has 'a virus', which is a catch all diagnosis.

She seems fine today, but I think the swimming lessons can wait a week.