Allow me to welcome you to that time of year when those people who bragged about not getting flu shots are now sick with the flu.
Folks are carousing the aisles of supermarkets and department stores sniffling and wiping their runny noses on their sleeves. They cough without covering their mouths and sneeze likewise as if that “achoo” was a personal gift from them to us, then anxiously wait for a “Gesundheit!” from their victims. Wait on.
Still, the common cold wafts about the air like the aroma of freshly-baked bread, only more physically intrusive and much less pleasantly inviting. Here’s an alert: Your aliments are not mine to share.
In any case, this is not a good time to be out and about in public. Doctors suggest a trip to their office or a clinic or a hospital for an expensive non-cure. Unfortunately, we must wait among the walking dead – well laden with other germs and imported ailments – before we can speak to a medical professional, with a raspy voice.
It’s a no-win situation. You may as well roll the dice on your home mortgage and hope for positive results.
But, I have noticed that there are much more anti-cold and –flu treatments on pharmacy shelves than before. As a child – I’m so old, my birth-certificate expired – I remember my Mother using salves greasy ointments on my chest to ferret out the cold germs. Actually, any self-respecting germ and virus would gladly leave an area with that stuff liberally applied nearby. I wanted to leave my own body to escape. But, I digress.
Enter the well-meaning people who feel compelled to give you free advice about your ailment.
“If you wore heavier clothing you wouldn’t be sick,” is the one I hear most.
“Bundle up or you’ll only get sicker,” is another.
“Cover your head before you die of pneumonia,” is my personal favorite. Of course, I’m very busy trying to keep my one foot off the banana and the other out of the grave to argue, and merely drop the matter.
It’s too bad the germs and viruses that give us our cold and influenza attacks don’t particularly care how much clothing one wears, or ones hat choice, to make us ill. For your information, they are airborne. Wearing a pair of tailored, cuffed, pleated slacks has no bearing upon getting a cold.
I certainly appreciate free advice but, I’d like factual advice above all. How about some free advice that doesn’t include fashion critiques? And, I’d welcome some free advice from a doctor.
