Flu and the Humble Turnip.

Following on from the previous post, the flu got worse last night, and by nine o’clock I was about ready to be converted into an artificial reef. I went to bed at midnight – which is a good three hours earlier than usual – without touching a drop of alcohol. I even skipped my YouTube fix, and I’d had nothing to eat since lunchtime. That’s flu, right? Must be, because this sort of voluntary privation hasn’t happened since 1994, which was the last time I had flu.

Today it’s a lot better, and so I read with some interest that Britain is braced for one of the worst flu epidemics for a long time, with something like 16% of the population likely to go down with it. The NHS offers free vaccination, but only to selected groups into which I don’t fit. And I wouldn’t take up the offer anyway. My mother had it one year and became so ill she wished she’d opted for the flu instead.

Hope is at hand, however, thanks to those clever people in Japan. Pickled turnips, or suguki as it’s known over there. Apparently it’s wonderful for building the body’s immune system against the flu virus. The only problem is that it needs to be eaten for fourteen days prior to infection, and you don’t know when you’re going to be exposed, do you? Which means you’d have to eat pickled turnips every day from November to April. Not exactly convenient, is it?

I’m hoping my flu duty is done for this winter. That being the case, I’ll decide next October whether to get a big bag of turnips and a lot of vinegar.