Cold therapy

I've been decidedly under the weather this week. Some awful lurgy has been lurking, dodging and diving around my body like a sparring boxer, not declaring itself as a full-blown cold. Why am I always telling people to listen to their bodies yet don't do it myself? Yesterday was a relief when I started to sneeze and got the runny nose, by then I was beginning to think the aching limbs and head were flu. So I've been dosing myself with ginger, lemon and honey tea (just love it!) and sitting by the fire with the cats and my knitting. But the main thing is that I knock this cold on the head before next week...

... when Philip is taking me to Bruges for a late birthday treat. It'll be my first time on Eurostar  (woohoo!!!), and the icing on the cake is that our friend Lieven Tavernier is playing there with his band during our stay.

Beautiful Bruges

Funny how you meet people.  A couple of years ago Lieven happened to be cycling down the hill outside our home in Wales. We live in a remote part of Wales with few neighbours and it was a hot day. When Lieven saw P ambling up the road towards him with a barrowful of logs, he stopped to ask if there was anywhere he could get a drink. Cutting and collecting firewood is thirsty business, so P was more than ready for a cuppa or even a cool glass of beer, so he quickly said look no further, come and join us. Over several cups of Earl Grey in the garden, Lieven told us he was accompanying his wife who was the cook for a large Belgian brass band touring Wales and staying a few miles away on the coast.

As soon as I learnt that he was a musician too, out came my guitar and we had a great time chewing the fat and exchanging songs. It turned out that even tho it was many years since I was last in Belgium - in fact before my knitting career began and I was a full-time busker - there were quite a few people we'd known in common. I knew immediately that Lieven was a charismatic and accomplished performer. Since then he's sent us his two latest CDs which, despite being in Flemish and me being a woman who loves words, I love and play often - especially the latest, Witzand.

So next week promises to be an interesting one. Meanwhile it's Saturday night, P is coming home from Wales, lovely friends from Greece are coming for supper and I need to make some food. So more lemon tea and paracetamol methinks, and hopefully a jolly evening will be just what the doctor ordered to see this cold off once and for all.