Mortal Coils

Right. Right?

Had difficulty getting up this morning. The thumping headache had progressed to thundering and then back to merely thumping and my throat was sore. When I was a child, the doctor used to call this type of sore throat 'dirty tonsils'. My tonsils did indeed feel dirty, and not in a good way.
At my age, it's difficult to make the call that I'm running a mild fever, but I believe I'm running a mild fever.

But enough, my day has been dogged by mortality. By day I mean the last twenty-four hours.

Last night I watched a docu-drama that hypothesised a smallpox outbreak in modern day Montréal, following the same pattern as the one in 1885. It really was quite horrid, especially the impossibility of knowing that one person has it if they only have a mild case. Then the hotel cleaner changes the sheets on the bed.....

I missed how it would break out after it had been globally eradicated in 1979, and also, surely, since it was eradicated as a result of vaccination, wouldn't the majority of adults still alive have been immunised against it or passed on that immunity to their children?

Astonishingly, a doctor on the documentary bit of the programme, said that vaccination was the single most important medical breakthrough of all time, and yet for some reason, people are resistant to it....er, but not in a medical sense natch.

Didn't make me feel any better, but certainly validated my decision to keep my bugs to myself, (as did my friend Bozo5).

This morning, I found the above-pictured mushroom growing amidst my Oregano. As a general rule, one should never eat mushrooms with white gills. This has white gills. In fact, it rather resembles the deadly poisonous Destroying Angel. It is so toxic, it stops the liver and kidneys from functioning and death occurs within 48 hours.
However.....I think it is more likely the edible Leucoagaricus leucothites. Obviously I'm not playing Russian Roulette with these puppies.

In the afternoon, two cars moved on from the visitor parking, revealing a dead rat that looked as though it were asleep. Asleep with flies buzzing round. We don't have to notify the public health authority here, so I merely buried it.

On the way back from Superstore, where I spread my germs far and wide, but not in close proximity, there had been a very unpleasant traffic accident involving two cars, one, an SUV, was on its side and ripped open. There were three ambulances, three police cars and a fire engine attending. People were being removed on stretchers.

I'm sensing a theme.
Not a good one.