h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Went over to my sister's yesterday for an early Christmas celebration. Her son (P) is in the RAF Regiment and is currently posted in Basra, but had come home for a week's R & R, so we had an extra Christmas dinner for him and his fiancee (C).

I got the train from here (30 minutes) and they picked me up at the station about 2.30pm. As we were pretending it was Christmas, my sister's OH and I got stuck in to the sherry at about 3pm! We had an early dinner: prawn and avocado starter, then turkey and all the trimmings. They always cook the turkey on the barbecue (it's a long story ...) which gives it an interesting smoky flavour.

After the main course we had a break and watched Strictly Come Dancing and gave P and C some of their presents, before going back to have the Christmas pudding.

P and C have planned to spend the day in London tomorrow, spending their Christmas present money, then going to the theatre and staying in a hotel overnight. However, during the night C was quite poorly with an upset stomach (very embarrassing for her to be throwing up in someone else's house, poor girl), and she stayed in bed all day today, looking very , so I hope she is well enough to go tomorrow. None of the rest of us were ill, so either she is allergic to barbecued turkey, or she has picked up a bug somewhere. It crossed my mind to remind them that if she's on the pill they might need additional precautions, but then I firmly told myself that it's none of my business!

P is flying back to Basra on Wednesday morning and will be there until the beginning of February.

Ah, Emma redux.


Douglas

Fortunately he hasn't got a brother ...

there's a fair bit of norovirus (winter vomiting) around at the moment - very infectious so be prepared for it Annie..... my main dose of it was in someone else's house - and yes it's horrid being sick as a guest.

couldn't cope with an early Christmas this year, still haven't bought most of my presents (normally sorted by the end of November)

hebe

Never heard of norovirus before Hebe, but I'll take your word for it! So far none of the rest of us have got any symptoms, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed - I haven't got time to be ill at the moment.

it's a very infectious stomach bug that often goes round hospitals (guess why I know about it...) and schools, usually lasts around 24 hours and causes D&V. Stomach upsets not caused by food poisoning are often because of it. I never knew its proper name until I worked for my current employer - but I've almost certainly had it in the past! If you've not got it now you're probably OK

hebe

Oh good! From a quick phone conversation with my sister yesterday, it sounds as if nobody else has been affected yet - although if it is a virus, P is the most likely to get it, so hope he doesn't develop D&V on the plane back to Iraq!