The last thing you want to do...

is so often the very best thing that you could do.

Isn't life a contrary beast? A paradox.

I promised I wouldn't whinge today, so take everything I say as a statement of fact, not as a pathetic moan.

Last night I tried to sleep sitting up to prevent the phlegm from trickling down the back of my throat.

This morning I woke to find that someone had been scrubbing my upper respiratory tract with Brillo Pads while I was temporarily incapacitated.

The weather? Cold. Windy. Threatening rain.

Oh, how much I didn't feel like getting out of bed at 6 a.m. to go to the yard to see to the horses!

Oh, how much I didn't feel like saddling up Alfie and taking him for his exercise!

I did though. I started off telling myself we'd just go to the end of Perryman's Lane then come back...but by the time we got there, the sun had come out and we carried on.

My upper body feels as though it's been stamped on by a Large Boot...

...but in myself, I feel SO MUCH BETTER.