Monday 31st October 2016

I was reading my old blogs on Sunday, and I wrote a year ago that I knew when an allergy attack was coming, even if I woke up allergy free. That I woke up at four, and laid in bed tossing and turning should have told me that one was coming, but it has been so long since an attack, that I mistook it for the cold I had felt had been coming since Thursday.

But that was to come, even so, getting up at five, feeding the cats and making coffee meant there was plenty of time to catch up on Sunday's football before I had breakfast and left for the tunnel.

Mulder was a bit better, but as Jools was on holiday, she was going to book him into the vets to get him checked out. When I left he was sleeping on the sofa, barely able to jump up from the floor, and certainly the stairs were beyond him.

I had bought another plus ticket, so once at the tunnel I checked in and drove to the lounge, had a coffee and collected a breakfast pack, which I could have for lunch once I was at the office. I had been sneezing all morning, but felt OK on the train once we boarded, and settled down for the trip over.

I had to go to pick up some wine for Tony, I had directions to the warehouse, near to the ferry port. Once I had paid for that, I could really settle down and enjoy the drive up the coast.

It was then that the allergy attack really hit its stride. My sinuses all were blocked, as was my nose. And no matter how much I tried to clear them, they just blocked up again.

The drive up was miserable, as I tried to blow my nose as I drove, never a good idea at the best of times. And then the roads were crazy. Seems like All Saints Day is a big holiday here, and everyone is heading for the coasts. Getting into Oostende took half an hour, until I was able to turn north along the coast road to the port area and the office.

Te day dragged, I sounded like that kid in the Tunes ad from the 70s. Doddingham? Anyway, I digress. It was good to leave the office at half five and drive to the hotel, through thicker traffic than normal, and in the hotel there was just once remaining space. Which I could only just get the car in. But managed it.

I was given a room on the 5th floor, I went up, and could not find it. I found 506 and 508, but no 507. I searched the whole floor, but no. Then, through a fire door and into the condo next door, there was the door. It was a flat, really, a huge living room which in time would have had a kitchen too, but was just empty. There was a sofa, more wardrobes than we have at home, a separate bedroom and the bathroom in another room.

It would do.

I tried everything to break the attack, including having a shower using no soap or shampoo, but that failed too. So, I waited until I got tired, too tired to keep my eyes open at half nine before going to bed. It seems that one nostril cleared enough for me to breath, so I fell into a deep sleep.