Arc Tangent

I returned from an awe­some week­end in Mel­bourne on Tues­day after­noon, to find Can­berra absolutely, bit­terly, butt-​freezingly cold. From shop­ping, awe­some food and cof­fee, Win­ter Sound Sys­tem, over a cramped and uncom­fort­able flight of stomach-​churning tur­bu­lence, into the throes of what feels like an icy North­ern win­ter from hell.

Aaaaaaawe­some. (Sar­casm! How very original!)

I called in to work to tell them I was work­ing from home today, owing to hav­ing been exposed to peo­ple who were cough­ing or exhibit­ing flu-​like symp­toms on Sun­day. Bet­ter safe than sorry, right? I feel fine though, so I work mer­rily away.

Lunchtime rolls around, and one of my friends (who was down in Mel­bourne with me) SMSes me to let me know he’s feel­ing awful and head­ing off to the Doc­tor for testing.

Uhohs.

A few hours later, another friend who was down with us goes down with flu-​like symp­toms. That’s ²⁄₄ friends show­ing signs of some infec­tion. So far, not groovy. I’ve let work know, and I’ve been instructed not to come in until Mon­day, assum­ing no symp­toms show.

I still feel fine. No aches, no fever, no headache. Slightly tired, but that’s more due to a bro­ken night of sleep than any­thing. Of course, know­ing that friends are sick means every lit­tle mus­cu­lar twinge, every slight sen­sa­tion of light-​headedness, has become a source of para­noia and cause for self-​analysis. Tea is con­sumed, mul­ti­vi­t­a­mins taken, the cen­tral heater turned up a lit­tle, all to pre­vent the pos­si­bil­ity of the dreaded lurgie striking.

Talk about tense. Sure it’s not life or death, but I really don’t want to get sick! I want to be back at the gym, dammit!

So I’m under both vol­un­tary and work-​mandated quar­an­tine. Neato.