Tough Shopper

Bones aching, nose dribbling and with the other minor irritating symptoms of a cold ( curses on all virulent bacteria and virus! ), I knew there could be only one form of panacea for me. For me, the only good way to beat the damned illness during the initial budding stages is to sweat it out thoroughly.


Mournful over my bloody flu...
No, it's not what you're thinking! The freaking gym with all the monstrous machines and the relentless grunt-groans of the obsessed musclemen at work? Tried that the last time when I had a flu coming on and I almost keeled over in a clumsy, disgraceful faint. Lifting weights and aching bones certainly don't mix.

Nah, my preferred regime for the occasional sweat is the nonstop mall workout. Wouldn't recommend my particular form of retail therapy to everyone but it certainly works for me. Somehow or rather, my ailing immune system gets a special kickstart once I enter the hallowed halls of a department store and I find myself remarkably, mystically energized - ala Scarlett O'Hara as she touches the grounds of Tara. Big Bicep Barry calls it the mystical industrical air-conditioned effect. Add some adrenaline-pumping speedwalking to it - with three malls in close succession - and it's easy enough to work up a sweat. Even dragged poor Charming Calvin into my nefarious shopping plans last night which left him a little indisposed today. Maybe my alternative treatment of naked hot showers should work :P

Work starts again soon but I have a short spell of two days to recuperate - and I certainly don't intend to spend it languishing like a sickly debutante on a divan groping desperately for my vinaigrette of smelling salts. So it's actually a true adage. When the going gets tough, the tough really do go shopping.

But as a sop to my illness, I'm taking wimpy orange juice by the gallons instead of my regular caffe mocha at Starbucks ( the call to blog is irresistible, I'm afraid ). Sigh. How the mighty have fallen.