The Commentario de Bello Lungicus,

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 or is it a chapter of I Claudius?

It isn’t yet the Ides of March but my current medical diagnosis reads like Julius Caesar’s great work or Robert Graves’ scandalous, orgiastic tell-all novel of the Roman highlife, “I Claudius”!

Yes, the Pseudomonii and the Proteus Mirabilii are doing battle with the Alveoli and the Cilia for possession of the scrap of lungs that I have remaining. Consequently, I am hooked up to what is charmingly called the “Out and About” program (a name I always play in my head with a Canadian accent…Ooot and Aboot).

Far from being “out and about”, I am at home attached to what looks like a baby bottle full of the poison that I hope will do a “Livia” (she who had a way with poisons) on my enemies.

Other than the small problem of what used to be called “walking pneumonia” I am feeling remarkably positive, hoping that this will work and I will be spared the routine two weeks in hospital.

The Prof. goes his merry way, Lawn Bowls have become his life and I scarcely see him in the daylight hours nowadays, blessed as we are with almost perfect weather. The view from our balcony still delights and enchants us after four months in our now not-so-new place.

I continue to fool around with trivial stuff, stamping and colouring, saving my energy for the battle within.

And remember...