Sunday 2 July 2006

Sneeze or Freeze...

The colours are changing again - yellow hangs on tenaciously in the form of fields thick with buttercups, and in the vast, almost indefineable range of dandeliony-things (OK, I know I'm supposed to know what they all are but a summer idleness creeps in - hawkweeds, cat's ears, hawksbits, coltfoot, and dandelions are just some of the range to select from), the white is there in the form of ox-eye daisies, but is slowly changing; the 'palest-maiden's-blush-to-hot-flush' pinks of dog roses, tall spikes of foxgloves in every shade from white to carmine, red campion, vibrant scarlet of field poppies, the red haze of grasses... it's glorious, but somewhere in it all is a lurking hay-fever trigger.

Driving whilst sneezing is a hazardous occupation. And driving for over 400 miles whilst sneezing is not conducive to road safety. Fortunately, the car has air conditioning, which comes complete with - fanfare - pollen filters! Which saved the day, but revealed a slight downside - you need to keep it switched on. Which is all very well when the sun is shining and its 20 degrees or so, but when it starts to rain and the temperature drops, being in the car becomes rather like stepping inside one of those big freezers in the supermarket. There is a likelihood of frostbite. But what is the alternative?

So this summer, if you see someone, on the hottest of days, driving around with the windows closed, wearing woolly gloves, hat and scarf... it could be me, avoiding hayfever.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good grief, Mad! Bunddle up and don't catch pnemonia while trying to relieve your hay fever!

Jude

Anonymous said...

Mad - you paint the most beautiful picture; in spite of the sneezles.

...sigh....air-conditioning...I dream of air-conditioning...

mad said...

I didn't actually intend to get aircon when I got the car - I wanted a sunroof (you can birdwatch out of them!) but there wasn't a car with one...so I got the aircon and never regretted it!!!

mad said...

apparently if you eat honey made from the plant that whacks you, it helps desensitize...now I just have to pin down the plant!!! :lol: