Five to One

Five reasons why today could have been a really bad one:

1. For me, there’s only one thing that always triggers asthma symptoms. Fireworks. To say that Bonfire Night is not my favourite day of the year would be a major understatement.

2. Several days of being wrapped in fog/cloud/smog isn’t helping matters. A nice strong wind to blow all the nasty stuff away would be appreciated.

3. The inhaler that I almost never use – except around November 5th – always causes me to lose my voice. I’ve used it regularly in the last 48 hours. As a result Mr TLC is enjoying an unusually quiet evening.

4. Asthma = chest pains = lack of sleep. So basically I’m blooming knackered. In fact I spent quite a lot of today in a mildly befuddled state, under the impression that it was Wednesday. Oops.

5. I arrived at work feeling distinctly yukky, with a raspy voice that made me sound much, much worse than I actually felt. (Good for a bit of sympathy though!) Then I discovered that I had to cover someone else’s class in my ‘free’ lesson. Pants.

One reason why it wasn’t a bad day after all:

1. My students.

They were so nice to me. Even – in fact especially – the ones that normally give me some grief.

They shut up and listened (at least, the overwhelming majority did) so I didn’t have to struggle with my rather limited vocal range. They were co-operative, helpful and in most cases genuinely concerned.

The extra class that I had to cover listened to me trying to talk and promptly told me to stop straining my voice. Then they basically got themselves sorted out, including taking the register, and just got on with their work. They were a Health and Social Care group; I think I’d give them pretty good marks for their caring skills and empathy.

My lessons were a long way from brilliant, but they were also a long way from awful. Under the circumstances, I think that’s OK.

All in all, despite feeling a bit under the weather, I had a pretty good day. Even if I didn’t know which particular day it was.

And now, time for an early night.