There was something in the air that said this was going to be a bad day. I don't know what first made me think that, maybe because it was 3am and I hadn't managed to get to sleep so far. Insomnia is a funny thing. I am lucky in that I do not suffer from it regularly but I have done enough research into it to know how to handle it (don't look at the clock, admit your powerless over it, accept there are things you cannot change, read Uncle John's Bathroom Reader).

I know how to handle this and I can tell other people how to handle this but if there's one thing I am not good at it is taking my own advice. Mainly because I don't like to hear the sound of my own voice. I don't really sound like that do I?

Finally, and with four hours to go till my alarm, I drift off with the thought of a cup of tea and my Bran Flakes for my breakfast. Of course, if I had remembered at that point that I had no Bran Flakes then I probably wouldn't have got to sleep. And I certainly wouldn't have slept if I had known that I didn't have any tea as well. And more importantly, I have no bananas, I have no bananas today.

So after a makeshift breakfast of an apple, two boiled egg and a glass of milk I head off to face the world. By now the day is pretty much lost and I've not even reached work. I have decided today is a gonner and it was obviously showing. After winking at me as I stood in the queue, I got two extra shots of coffee in my Americano from the Baritsa.

(Note to Canadian Girlfriend: He isn't my type and as you know I don't even like Graham Norton.)

Finally, I sit down at work. Five sneezes, eight kleenex and two Advil later, I have decided why this day is turning out so bad.

I am sick!!!

In a similar situation to the insomnia, I know exactly what I should do. I should go home, tuck myself up in bed and get better. I do not want to infect my colleagues, co-workers, casual acquaintences and people I nod at in the corridor with anything and "The Man" does not appreciate you enough when you are well and still come in to work - so you know they don't appreciate you coming in when you're sick.

But after looking at the weather outside and remembering the pile of ironing I have to do at home - I ignore my own advice again, take some Day Nurse and stay at work.