Spoonful of Sugar

I will just come right out and say it. I have come down with the "traveller's flu." I admit it - reluctantly. The bug started going around caravan parks and workplaces a week or so ago and I immediately spotted the signs within myself, but did not want to be classified with those having difficulty managing the symptoms. It's known as the "traveller's flu" not because I, myself, am a traveller, but because during this time of year in Broome - every year in Broome - the high season starts. With the high season comes all sorts of travellers from the southern regions of Australia. Areas of which the winters are damp and cold. Areas of which people come, bringing along with them the seasonal winter bugs that inhabit their homes this time of year. And I have it.

Fortunately (or unfortunately - depending on how you look at it), I am not alone. The caravan park is full of those of us who are hibernating to our tents during every waking moment in order to rest our aching bodies on what little mattresses we have. At work we clean rooms and serve customers inbetween a set of sneezes intended to sound the alarm that a virus is in the air. The coughing. The exhaustion. The headaches and sore throats. We are all getting it. I have it.

I had to go home early yesterday because I was simply feeling so ill. Attempting to clean dirty rooms does nothing for the person who is nausiated from both the smell of the grime and the chemicals one has to use to clean everything up. I was running to the bathroom at nearly every room we went to clean. So I called my boss who reluctantly let me go home early. Once I made it back to the tent, I promptly melted into my 3 inch-thick mattress and feel asleep. I pretty much stayed there the rest of the day and night, only to wake up this morning and deliberate on whether or not I should call in sick for today. I did.

I hate being sick. All I can think about is that I am letting my boss down. That I am missing out on the money I could be making if I was at work. That I have hit my brick wall and need to re-evaluate how much work I should actually be doing each week. Decisions, decisions.

On that note, I think it is time for my first nap of the day...