Colds and coughs: Why it’s not ok to be ill anymore

Nobody ever welcomed somebody else blowing their nose or coughing while they were in the same room.

But, since Covid, it’s absolutely terrifying having to leave your house if you have a cold, like I did last week.

I did daily lateral-flow tests (all negative), had no Covid symptoms, unless you count repeated sneezing or a red, crusty nose, but go out in public with a tissue pressed to your face because you have a case of bog-standard viral rhinitis and you are certain to be persona non grata.

I felt sorry for myself, and didn’t really feel much like venturing outside. But as it’s considered socially unacceptable to let young children find their own way to their respective educational settings, I thought I’d better take them and pick them up.

I tried my best to look as ‘well’ as possible when standing around the other parents, but the second an accidental snuffle escaped, I had to immediately launch into the ‘don’t worry, it’s not Covid, I’ve done a test’ mantra that seems to have become the norm.

Basically, it’s a really stressful experience. I half expected to come home and find a red plague cross painted on my house!

Thankfully, after a few days I started to feel a bit better, and we managed a family outing to the seafront on Sunday afternoon.

I’ll never get tired of a walk along the beach – well, in this instance it was more of a jog, as I struggled to keep up with my children who were on their scooters.

Sure, I may have looked a little bit crazy pelting down the prom in full coat, hat, scarf, gloves and obligatory mum-backpack getup, and having to apologise to random pedestrians every ten metres for my son’s unique brand of scooter ‘control’ that saw him vere in front of people with no warning, seemingly for pleasure.

But it was just nice to be out of the house. And I guess it made a nice change after days of being judged for my illness, to be scorned for my poor scooter tutelage instead!

Have you read about the developer who might take on Union Place to build 186 homes in the heart of the town centre?