The human race has achieved many wonderful things. We have landed men on the Moon, almost totally eradicated polio and leprosy and invented the World Wide Web. However, my ardent wish is that someone could come up with a cure for the common cold. I am very susceptible to colds and influenza and how I suffer! My symptoms always follow the same pattern. I get a sore, dry throat, then a headache and aching joints. When the cold starts to come out with sneezing and watery eyes, I actually begin to feel better. It's the days leading up to the full blown cold that make me feel awful. Of course, then I'm stuffed up and don't sleep very well.
Scientists have been trying for a cure for many years. Volunteers are paid to take part in research studies where different medications and placebos are given. No luck so far, so we continue to drink hot lemon and rub ointment on our chests. Businesses lose lots of workdays each year to the common cold. Even when sufferers manage to struggle into the office, all they achieve is to spread their germs around. Every office has a martyr. You know the type. They think that they are indispensable and that their sacrifice will ingratiate them with the boss. The sound of coughing rises from their desk, behind an ever growing pile of tissues. They insist they are fine as they sneeze all over your keyboard.
Why can't we find a cure? It's only a germ and we have a vaccination for most germs these days. Scientists have mastered the complex world of biological warfare but not this. It is said that the only germ free place is in outer space, so when they finally colonize another planet, I'll be there. The absence of supermarkets and cinemas will be compensated for by the removal of the common cold from my life. It's a big part of the winter blues but I somehow manage to catch colds in the summertime too. Those bouts can be worse, when I'm trying to breathe in the summer heat.
I can actually pinpoint the exact moment that I catch the germ. I can feel the changes in my body, a subtle change in body temperature and a certain tingling. If I believed in re-incarnation, I would want to come back as a hedgehog or some other animal that hibernates in the winter. Dozing in a warm hole underground until the warmth of the sun stirs me again sounds good to me. In the meantime, I'll endure the common cold and keep taking the tablets.
|
