Still sick. Flush with a fever, congested with a cough and a cold, voiceless, and all around under the weather. Not the best of ways to spend a holiday, but a worse way to spend a workweek, so this is okay by comparison.

To soothe an irritated throat, in a mug, combine:

• Juice of half a lemon
• Tablespoon of honey
• Hot water

(Do not give honey to babies under a year old.)

W- has kept me on a steady infusion of chicken soup, cuddles, and Pride and Prejudice – several different versions, in fact.

I like BBC’s Lizzie and Lost in Austen’s Darcy the most. Heresy, I know. Colin Firth in the BBC’s 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is the definitive Darcy, of course. Lost in Austen’s Fitzwilliam Darcy (Elliot Cowan) does more of a transformation from utterly disagreeable to totally awesome.

Ginger tea (salabat): The powdered form is very convenient, of course, but you can make up a batch by crushing ginger and boiling it it in water. Add brown sugar to sweeten it.

You can’t do much with a cold except to try to not make it any worse. Definitely a good time for relaxing.