Oinkment ;)

We've re-branded the anti-swine flu alcohol hand wash... ;)

Swine Flu and Pregnancy

Hrmmm...So that's now seven people from my floor (that I know of) at work who have been sent home with Flu-like symptoms (5 of them yesterday)...so the odds aren't looking terribly good for me to escape totally unscathed (especially as to get here I have to brave the germ-friendly, humid conditions on the Jubilee Line)...in an attempt to combat the danger of infection I have got hold of some alcohol-based hand gel (the same sort of stuff they use in the hospital to keep MRSA at bay) and popped it on my desk, then, whenever I get up and go to the water machine, or pop to the loo (or in fact any opportunity to pick up surface bound agents by touch), I have a little squirt...and I'm not alone, the minute I bought it in, a procession of people started to appear at my desk...(which is a really good thing, as if lots of peoples hands are germ free then I am better off too)...

I can't help but wonder if perhaps the government (or someone) ought to be putting these gel dispensers at the entrance and exit to the tube though, just to try and halt the spread a little bit...all of this is making me start to worry, and for two very good reasons - firstly, I'm aware that this behaviour is becomming increasingly OCD-like (for example I've stopped holding on to the handle on the escalator and I'm opening doors where possible with my elbows or forearm instead of my hands), and secondly (and this is the most worrying) there is some talk that visitors will be banned from hospitals (completely) as the majority of people who have ended up dying from the disease had underlying medical problems...which, if Flyingpops finds herself staying in for a couple of days, could be a rather lonely experience when the baby arrives... :(

Swine Flu - Canary Wharf

Goodness me, just heard that one corner of the FSA (a couple of floors down from me in One Canada Square - we share the same lifts) has been quarantined thanks to a case of Swine Flu! That's rather closer to home than I would have liked... :S

*sneeze*

Swine Flu

So it looks like Canary Wharf management have succomed to the hype, despite the international version of Swine Flu appearing to be slightly wussier than a dose of the (so called) "Man" variety, signs have materialised all over the building reminding us that we should be (gasp!) washing our hands...as if that wasn't bad enough, it then goes into great detail about exactly how we should be doing so - and I'm terribly sorry, but I don't think I would have got terribly far in life if by this stage I had somehow managed to miss the part where I learned how to work a soap dispenser and tap...and is it really necessary to wet your hands before you put on the soap? I mean, I could understand it if we were using bars, but hereabouts we have nice little dispensers that spit out a generous quantity of something that resembes pink shower gel which lathers up rather well without any additional water...

Anyway, while this was probably a small overreaction, pity the only (known) pig that lives in Afghanistan (in a zoo, believe it or not), the poor little thing, even though it's got no chance of catching or passing on the disease (there being no brothers and sisters or even distant relations in the same country to potentially get it from) it has been locked up in solitary confinement to allay public fears of infection! Sometimes I really do dispair... ;)