The new year seems well and truly underway again. The first month of the year has seen many a New Year’s resolution come and go and even more articles analysing their different benefits and tribulations. Health, finance and happiness seem to be the most popular areas people like to consider. Just look at the number of published opinions around those issues. For me resolutions had evolved around time management. I went as far as considering a weekly work and exercise plan. The aim is to fit in all the current work commitments and to make sure the winter months do not dent fitness levels too much before the active outdoor season. So the first week of such a plan was drawn up - albeit with a little delay - and embarked on. At the end of the first day things had gone to plan, only that the day ended with sniffles and general unwell being. I quickly learned from the other half of the household that indeed the Netherlands was again gripped by the annual flu/cold epidemic* for a number of weeks already. As the evening progressed it became clear that I had succumbed too. The hot water bottle emerged from where I stored it last year. Looking at it I try to remember how many years and moves that hot water bottle has seen - a lot it seems. It has been such a comforting companion for so many years and cases of exactly this nature. I fill it up and start making myself ready for the night with extra blankets and warm socks. My weary body settles into a restless sleep. It still feels like the middle of the night when my dear husband offers me a cup of tea, a morning kiss and some good advice to take it easy and keep warm. I sit up to sip my cuppa and look at the cold and frosty morning unhurriedly dawning outside. The rooftop below has a layer of ice and the winter sun is not quite strong enough but brings a grey light with a tint of blue that I so love in the Scandinavian winter skies. It is surprisingly still. I conclude that the cold makes people move more purposefully between places and that makes less noise in the city. After all, any city seems to be louder and more boisterous in summer than in winter. My tea is almost finished. Ironically I had only learned a few days earlier that there are as many as 200 different viruses that induce a common cold. One of those just got me! The only thing they have in common is the fact that they all manage to fool the body’s respiratory system when they break in. But things are not so bad. I set my cup on to the side table and conclude that I have one of the most comfortable beds on the planet right now. I decide to retreat to the Splendid Isolation of my side of it in Silence and Solitude for the coming days. Time management will have to wait. 

*An epidemic is called when 51 or more people out of 100.000 go to visit their physicians with flu-like symptoms.

Photo credit: The small bug that visited is so much bigger than the virus that caused me to stay put behind the glass for several days.