If there is one piece of advice that I wish had been drilled into me as a kid, it’s this: don’t get cocky that’s when you catch a cold. For weeks now, I have been walking around watching friends , colleagues and family drop one by one .
Succumbing to streaming noses, gullet-tearing coughs and soul-sapping malaise. It should have felt like a countdown . The inevitable creeping annexation of my every adjoining territory by the all-conquering germ empire. Instead, I imagine myself invincible. A golden god. Untouchable. Immune to the symptoms that plague those around me.
Turns out, I was wrong. Now, not only do I have to deal with the usual infection -induced ennui and my (frankly unsustainable) tissues and Lemsip bill, I also have to contend with the realisation that I am not special. Not a cold -free zone. Human after all.
It’s a great leveller, the common cold. Acute viral nasopharyngitis, to gratuitously and unnecessarily use its scientific name, can strike anyone, anywhere. The average adult gets two to three colds a year. Chicken may get six to eight(bad luck, kids). Cold-causing viruses can survive for up to 18 hours on surfaces and symptoms can last up to three weeks bad cases. In short, if you haven’t had one yet , it is coming for you. So break out the antibacteterial gel, avoid touching your face and eyes, and definitely don’t snog anyone at party, because complancencyis how it gets you. Pride comes before a fall, and cockiness coms before a massive stonking cold.
