Well, it was probably one of the most dullest ways to spend a week off work, but it was nice and (mostly) relaxing. I didn’t exactly get all I had set out to do either, but hey, it was supposed to be time off.

What I did manage was get out on my bike a couple of times – Ride #1 and Ride #2. I also managed to spend a whole afternoon just chatting with me sister as we wandered up and down the Marion shopping centre, and of course I got to spend time with my niece.

I also started sorting through the collection of data CDs I have stacked on a shelf in my study – most of which is defunct data (like old backups of this site from 5 years ago), or duplicates (like my photo albums, which I’m sorting through and going to place onto a single DVD – oh and post up the choice pictures onto here).

And then there was the reading, and the sorting of the myriad bookmarks, so I have been able to organise a lot of things that I want to write here and on Religious Funny.

Finally, I spent most of the weekend at my parents – helping my Dad with digging up half the garden in order for him to put decking where there was once lawn. Needless to say, I hurt a little now from the hard graft, but I’m surprised that I don’t feel as bad as I thought I would.

So, yeah, back to work today – and it was actually a pretty non-hectic day. Obviously, there was the marathon reading of email, but after that I got back into the swing again today.

Another thing I started doing in the last week was a timeplan in my head – when I’m going to be writing for Horus Kol, Religious Funny and Random Tweak – when I’m going to working on my new Python/Django projects – and when I’m going to doing other things like more drawing, reading, and general relaxing. It goes a bit further than that – I’m starting to think about what I want to be doing in 2010 and beyond already (and we haven’t even got into the last month of 2008 yet). Needless to say, this involves things like buying a home, and travelling more frequently and over more distance again, and getting into shape.

There’s nothing like a week off for getting your head together.

Yesterday was just like any other day. I woke up, showered, got my bike out and headed for the train station. I stepped on the train, got my book out, and tried to read it on the way into the city.

I couldn’t manage it.

The letters were dancing around, and obscured by something flashes around the bottom edge of my vision.

That’s when I knew I was going to get a migraine. I figured I would be okay as long as I took some painkillers in time – which sometimes works.

Migraines are not just "bad headaches"

By the time I got to the office, the flashes had cleared (which was fortunate, as they really are disorientating). I managed to get some painkillers, but it was too late – the migraine hit, and there is nothing that’s going to stop it.

Migraines vary from person to person – I’m pretty lucky that I only get a handful each year, whereas my father gets them a lot more frequently. But when I do get them, they are awful. Besides the pain, I also get extremely nauseous (sometimes to the point of vomiting). For some reason, I don’t get the light sensitivity that a lot of other sufferers get.

About all I can do once the migraine is in full swing is to sleep – so I excused myself and returned home, where I ended up sleeping for five hours and spent the rest of the day in a post-migraine fog (for some reason, a bunch of pain like that takes a lot out of me).

All in all, it wasn’t the worst migraine I’ve ever suffered, but not a pleasant experience.

The weather’s warming up, the days are getting longer, and the skirts are getting shorter – all the really great things about spring are here again.

The only downside is the hayfever.

For all those people who are lucky enough to not suffer hayfever or any allergies at all, it might be difficult to put across exactly how miserable and irritating this defect of the immune system is.

When I was 19 or so, I got a scratchy throat and a very runny nose. It got to the point where I was using teatowels for handkerchiefs around the house (don’t worry, they were washed on high heat, and weren’t used for their original purpose again). Every year since, those same symptons return, sometimes with nice extras like itchy eyeballs.

This all lasts about 4 months or so – although the different environment of South Australia to the United Kingdom means that my pollen season has probably changed (for one thing, it’s started up more than a month earlier than I expected).

Last year the anti-histamines held out through the season… they seem to be doing the job this year, too.