A Sneezy Morning and Runny Day

My body stirred me into wakefulness just a bit before 5 o'clock. It was the bathroom thing, plus some leg pain, and a general chill because we allow the temperature to go down to 16C/61F at night. Up until recently, I had the thermostat set to 15C/59F overnight but increasing it that extra degree (or two) does make a difference. I bundled up and moved to the chair, but I pretty well knew that sleep was done for the night. I'd had 5+ hours, and while that isn't quite enough for me, I can only get back to sleep after 5 hours about once in a millennium, and since that event has already occurred, I was pretty well scuppered.

I turned up the thermostat which would take about an hour to get the house up to our standard 19C/66F. Meanwhile, I bundled up under two hoodies and a blanket, brewed my first coffee, finished and posted a blog, read blogs and then did Wordle, the Mini, Waffle and two games of Sudoku. Sudoku takes time; I play a difficult level, so most games take 15-20, with the occasional really difficult one possibly taking even longer.

All that time, and it was quite a long time, I sneezed and blew my nose. It was crazy. It wasn't a cold, but something triggered a series of significant sneezes shortly after I had settled into my chair, and that in turn set my nose to running and running. I have a sensitive spot in the left nostril; when it gets excited/agitated my nose run copiously, sometimes for many hours.

After almost three hours fiddling and fiddling in my chair with the tablet, I finally went to the computer in order to attend to my FB group in way that I couldn't manage on my tablet. I then began to compose this post. The cat sidled up beside my chair for our ritualistic feeding of the kibble although the crazy puss has a full bowl in the bedroom just across the hall. Then, Sue got up, and I whinged to her about my nose and managed to demonstrate my predicament. I am sure she greatly appreciated my blow by blow demonstration, accompanied by sound effects.

And that was the first three hours of my day. I refuse to recount the whole day, but if  we get a few more snow pics, I will append them, below.

=================

Mid-morning I went out front to check the drifting by the garage door and front door. I am happy to report that there hadn't been much drifting, but I cleared up what there was. I wandered across the street to take a picture of the fire hydrant. People are asked to help keep the hydrants accessible, and the neighbour takes the request seriously. Notice the attached arm. If the hydrant gets completely buried, that arm should still stick out. They will remove the arm in April or May and reattach it in October or November.

On the way across the road and beyond whatever windbreak the houses provided, I discovered there was a fierce wind. It was also very cold, which meant that we should forego our daily trudge. I told Sue this when she was snapping this photo on my way back.

We decided that picking up coffee and taking it to our usual spot would make a nice change. As you can see, the snowfall and subsequent plowing obscured our view. so it wasn't exactly a huge treat.

As for my runny nose, it kept up all the livelong day. There were times when I couldn't go longer than a minute without wiping and blowing. I got some relief by plugging up the left nostril with a wad of tissue. It helped somewhat by stopping the air from going past that sensitive spot, for even breathing seemed to trigger the running.

It was driving me mad, I tell you. Late afternoon, I went to the pharmacy to seek desperate relief. I was offered a nasal spray after assuring the pharmacist that the runny nose was not symptomatic of a cold as pathetic as I might look.

================

It is now the next morning (Wednesday). Once again, I was up at 5, brewed my coffee and have been snuggled into my chair while the house heats up. The nose was reasonably well behaved, but I was on tenterhooks all night. I have stuffed tissue back in as a preventative measure since this is when it all started yesterday morning. If it continues to behave itself, I will meet the boys for coffee later. I should also do the grocery shopping at some point. Maybe I should go at 8 when the store opens and get it done before coffee at 10. Or shall I wait until afternoon?