The best laid plans and all that - or man-flu again!

Unfortunately the man-flu returned with a vengeance, just in time to scupper any plans I my have had for the weekend. I thought I’d shaken my cough and cold off whilst in Dundee, but according to Mrs PBT’s, who knows far more about these things than I do, I must have picked up another bug, during my time away.

The temptation is to blame being cooped up in an aircraft where there’s the risk of contracting something nasty from a fellow passenger, but last week’s flights were only just over an hour each way, and having read up on how air is circulated, and filtered on a plane, I’ve discovered the environment is far healthier than you might think. So all in all, it’s a bit of a mystery.

The main event spoiled by this particular bug, was another pub walk; this time to the Spotted Dog, near Penshurst. Mrs PBT’s visited the pub just over a week ago, and came back with glowing reports – although she didn’t relay any information about the beer. So when a couple of members from our WhatsApp Weekend Walking Group put forward a walk to this attractive, but rather isolated old pub, I jumped at the chance.

Unfortunately I started feeling rough on Friday morning, and by the time I arrived home from work, the cold was in full swing. An early night didn’t help matters and neither did a lie-in. I drove Mrs PBT’s down to Waitrose to pick up some shopping, and then called in at the Post Office to collect a couple of Passport renewal forms – one for her and the other for Matthew. They’ll no doubt be getting those nasty, new blue passports, but my own maroon one, still has six years left on it.

Despite feeling under the weather, I used the time wisely, sorting out and putting away some of the things I got for Christmas. With bottles and cans of beer featuring high on the Christmas list, I worked out I’ve got sufficient beer to float the proverbial battleship, or put another way enough to last me well into spring.

I also treated myself to a new phone, and whilst I ordered it prior to Christmas, it only arrived on Friday. I therefore spent some time setting up and optimising my new Xiaomi Mi 9T phone. Unfortunately I’m not a tech-wizard, and for some reason I was unable to transfer across all the contacts from my old phone.  I’ll get one of my technicians at work to have a look at it.

The main reason for me upgrading my phone was the memory on the previous one was so full, that many of the apps had stopped working, but the other reason is the Mi 9T has a 48 MP, triple lens camera capable of use at low levels of lighting. This should prove handy when taking photos for use on the blog.

I had another electronic device to play with as well, in the form of a “Sports Watch” which will synchronise to my new phone. Now me and the word “sports” don’t exactly go together, but the watch will come in useful for tracking my lunchtime walks and also counting the number of steps I undertake each day. The plan is that it will assist me with increasing my fitness levels  over the coming months, and help me lose some weight as well.

It would have come into its own, had I felt well enough to have participated in this morning’s pub walk. I haven’t really felt the need for a beer, and whilst I did crack open a can of Jaipur last night, with my taste-buds not functioning as they should, this normally excellent beer, tasted absolutely foul. So it’s a cup of coffee instead and then another early night. We’ll see then what next week brings!!