A Bulletin from an Invalid

Just a quick note, darlings, to let you know I'm alive, if not particularly well...

Yes, I'm afraid my time in Vienna ended on rather a down note, as a vague tickling in the back of the throat - which I initially attributed to teaching all day - slowly but inexorably turned into a nasty cold.  Flying home was just as much fun as a long-haul flight with a cold can be (and think what a joy I was for the other passengers, all of whom doubtless assumed they were now inevitably fated to die of Ebola), and most annoyingly this week I was launched immediately into another session of my apparently increasingly popular seminar on the glories of strategic communication.

Normally I share the class with a colleague, meaning that we can take turns leading various sessions, prep for others, help out the more clueless of the students, and generally keep things running smoothly.  This week, though, I was deserted by my faithless fellow facilitator (say that ten times fast), who for unfathomable reasons thought that staying on in Austria and then motoring down the Italian coast would be more amusing than sharing a week with me in a windowless classroom in the suburbs of Our Nation's Capital.  Mysterious, don't you think?

So I was on my own, dosed up to the gills on a variety of local and Egyptian patent medicines, and talking for six hours a day.  All I can say is that if you're looking for a pleasant way to spend a week, I don't really recommend it.

Finally yesterday I gave in and headed to the doctor, where I learned that what at this point I have is acute bronchitis, and that it's not generally recommended to try and soldier through when you have acute bronchitis and a temperature of 101. Who knew?

So that's my week, and if I sound both frazzled and grumpy, well, do you blame me?