Known to be the wisest woman in Europe

So, is it possible to contract Fresher's 'Flu before Freshers' Week even begins? Clearly it is, or at least some malign fate wishes me to believe so. Accordingly, I am well-stocked with Vitamin C, Echinacea (with added Vitamin C), Beecham's cold powders (with added Vitamin C), and some healthful fruit smoothies (with added Vitamin C). Perhaps the next bizarre Oxford Mail headline will be "Giant blackcurrant-woman in bus tragedy - Woodstock Road blocked by jam". Watch this space...

At least, however, I have a decent kitchen in which to produce herbal tea concoctions and comforting food. Upon which note, why must bacon be sold in such large packets? An individual of moderate size such as myself finds it difficult to consume more than two rashers per day, which means eating the damn stuff for four days in a row. (Unless, of course, one wishes to run the risk of hearing in the mind's eye (erm...?) one's mother's childhood voice... "think of the starving children in Africa"... as half a pack of Marks & Spencer English Maple Cured Bacon ends up in the bin.)

But, apart from the cold and having to endure living in a house filled with improbably attractive and pleasant people, life in Oxford is going well.