Family Cures

I've been very sick over the past day and a bit. It snuck up on me quickly, inducing sneezing, an awfully painful sore throat, thick head and urge to just lie down somewhere quiet. So yesterday afternoon I took off work and did just that. Only it wasn't quiet. This was the one day all my son's acquaintences decided they should become friends - because he knows how to "upgrade" a BeyBlade, and it's suddenly revived itself into the latest fashion among pre-teen boys after a three-year lull. A variety of previously unknown kids dropped by, making the dogs bark at strangers, then battling with their BeyBlades (who can sleep through that? It's almost as bad as somone rummaging in a box of Lego!), going away, returning again - until at about 5:30 I managed to kick them all out to go play elsewhere.

With a still awful throat, supper was stuff that would potentially kill it - ice water, pickles, beetroot in vinegar. Not the wisest choices perhaps, but they were followed by half a pineapple and the juice of an orange.

And then the old family cure kicked in. You know those - the ones that are passed down from generation to generation as a "cure all" for any hint of illness. They vary from family to family - one preferring perhaps cod liver oil, or hot compresses, or "grandma's secret mixture" that bubbles quietly in a bottle in the fridge.

Well, our family cure is "hot bath, two disprins (similar to aspirin/panado) and into bed". So I set out to do just that.

And you know what? It still works. Maybe it's the hot hydrotherapy, or the disprin, or the bed, but it works.

Still not too great, but I'm here - because I have to be. Last day for students to register and I've got a few new ones still to turn up. But I'll be taking it as easy as I can.

What strange family cures does your family cling to, even if they make no sense medically?