The sky and sea just now (no colour exaggeration):

Just before it turned to this:

And then darkness.

Hopefully.

Thank you everyone for your advice - as you can see, I’ve taken it all on board. Apart from the whisky and cloves bit (Rachel).

I left my room after 24 hours house arrest to go and buy all of the above; and to have lunch downstairs (baked salmon with salad, followed by fruit, since you ask). As I told someone the other day, I never, but never, lose my appetite. No matter what’s happened to me - I could have fallen sick/had my heart broken/survived a nuclear holocaust - there’s one thing that’s guaranteed. Through it all, I’ll be able to eat like a horse*.

M, the hotel manager, called me yesterday to ask how I was and to see if there was anything he could do. Bless him. I really am so lucky to work for a place which treats me so well.

M also told me that when he used to work at the Savoy, Pavarotti would sometimes come to stay (the Savoy being his London hotel of choice). Apparently, Pavarotti requested on room service five - count ‘em! - litres of freshly squeezed orange juice every day. Five litres a day! No wonder he got fat - all that fructose! M used to squeeze his oranges, too (missus) - he said they were even imported from Sicily. Fancy.

And speaking of health food - I read this story in the paper over lunch:

The young lad above just scored the highest number of top grades in his SPM exams (Malaysian ‘A’ levels). He got 1As in 21 subjects (including Higher Arabic Language and Accountancy) and told the paper that he only studied when he felt like it. Adding: “Of course, you have to consistently ‘feel like it’. I studied every day.”

And the other secret of his success (apart from an unfeasibly large brain)? “I also did a lot of hajat prayers**, watched my diet and took the advice of my headmaster to consume a lot of dates, honey and milk.”

So there you go: this post has not only brought you the cure for the common cold, but also the secrets of a diet guaranteed to win you a place on University Challenge. Hurrah for me!

Now, back to looking pitifully out of the window at the sunshine…

*ie. with a big nose bag around my face.

**Explanation of a hajat prayer - albeit in a slightly Hitchhikers’ Guide to The Galaxy form - is here.