Next time I might just listen

WHAT KATI DID NEXT:

I don’t know about you, but I am one of those people who sees warnings for the weather/travel situation/health issue and go ahead and ignore them.

If it says on the news “please don’t leave the house unless absolutely necessary,” I just stick on a pair of boots and head on into the storm.

If they say “the roads are blocked from here to here,” (do imagine some officious looking man on the telly) I just pick up my car keys and plunge right in.

And if they say “flu is on the rise,” well I scoff in the face of that flu and head out into the cold with the whole family on board.

Well no longer. This week, we have been stuck in a freezing cold house with no water or heat due to a burst pipe.

We have been stuck in a nine-hour traffic jam and the whole family, six-month-old included, have come down with the most appalling flu imaginable.

Now I can cope with one child being ill and when the baby stumbles across a new tooth or struggles with nappy rash.

I can kind of understand and do the sympathy thing.

I can, at a hard push, deal with husband having man flu. But when all three get the lurgy all at once it meant excruciating temperatures in the middle of the night — the like I have never seen before.

The kind of thing where I had to search the internet for information on what to do.

I endeed up plunging each child into a tepid bath to bring down said temperatures, while eldest child looked at me petrified because he simply did not understand. Plus husband in the bed next door not able to lift his head off the pillow didn’t help.

Well, that my friends, is not fun. Multiply it by seven nights and you know you’re in for a problem.

As you may imagine, I am quite tired. What a start to a new year eh?

However, watching the news today, we are the lucky ones, flu has been rife all over the country and we seem to be turning a corner.

The next time someone warns me about something I might just sit up and listen. I just might.