Sniff. It's still Christmas (well, still the Christmas holidays) and I am sick. I've been slightly sick since Thursday morning and properly sick since Friday afternoon. I have, of course, a hideous head cold, like almost everyone else I know, and the only reason my poor runny nose hasn't fallen off is because it's been smeared in so much Vaseline. Patsington and I had a tiny party on Friday, and on Friday afternoon I was feeling so awful I was debating which would be ruder: cancelling a party two hours before guests were due to arrive, or sneezing, snuffling and whinging my way through the party itself. I decided that I just had to buck up and ignore the runny nose and sneezing, so I did, and (hopefully) a good time was had by all, including me (apart from when I sneezed about fifteen times in a row, which exhausted me so much I had to sit down). Anyway, I am quite annoyed by my sickness, which is spoiling my precious time away from the office. My aunt gave me cool bike panniers for Christmas, and I had great plans to go on an epic shopping trip around all the fancy little food shops in Dalkey, loading my panniers as I went but I'm so wobbly about the limbs that I'd be a liability on a bike. I went for a walk around the park yesterday and had to have a lie down when I returned, so there will be no cycling for me.

Today I am baking bread with my own germy hands. Actually, I haven't baked it yet, i've just mixed the yeast batter and put it in the hot press (airing cupboard to non-Irish folks), where it will have to sit for another hour or so. I have only tried to make bread once before, and despite following the instructions of Saint Nigel (Slater), it was a horrible salty, squashy-centered disaster. This time, however, I am following the instructions for "the easiest bread ever" from the Guardian's recent baking supplement, which involves creating a separate yeast-n-flour batter (which Nigel's recipe didn't) and leaving it to rise before mixing it up with flour-salt-and-butter. All very mysterious, but I hope it works - Lord knows it can't be any worse than my last attempt. I'll let you know how it goes...