Oink Oink!

Hahaha, I seem to have inadvertently created quite the storm in a tea cup!!!

In addition to posting here yesterday about the potential swine flu on my doorstep, I also e-mailed Mini-Me and Bear to tell them that Shoes had been sent home as he'd been exposed to the virus.

Now while I will fully admit to a moment of panic, due not to the fact that my boyfriend might get swine flu, but rather to the fact that he might LOOK too sick to fly, the fact of the matter is that in the UK, we are more or less blase about the whole thing now. Most people who contract the virus have varying degrees of a bad cold or particularly miserable flu symptoms; others experience nothing more than a sniffle and a few aches and pains; but most are over it within a few days to a week, using good old paracetomol and ibuprofen to get them through the worst. The government here is no longer working on containing the virus, but rather treating the increasing number of cases and educating people about the facts. And the reality is that unless you are very old, very young or have other underlying health problems, you are unlikely to experience discomfort any worse than a normal strain of flu. People have stoppped panicking and running to the opposite side of the bus everytime someone sneezes.

However, this is not the case in South Africa. Over there, it seems people are still scared shitless. Between my blog and that e-mail, rumour has spread like wildfire, and our family and friends are extremely concerned that poor Shoes might be on his last legs! Shoes' best friend Fish called frantically last night to check if he's alright, and his sister BlackVelvet posted her worries in her FB status. All day I have been fielding calls and e-mails from concerned loved ones, asking if Shoes is alive / feeling better / able to travel.

As much as I never meant to alarm anyone, I have been thoroughly amused all day by the outbreak (excuse the pun, ohhhh I kill me) of concern. Not that it's not warranted - if Shoes does indeed have swine flu, I would of course take very good care of him and treat it with the seriousness it deserves. But he is feeling better today and still only has a sore throat, with no other symptoms rearing their heads, so I am definitely enjoying the funny side. :-)