Today I woke up and realised it was my turn – a fever, weakness, and a heaviness around the chest. The poor GF, still very unwell, had to take over cooking and getting foodstuff, which nearly felled him (it was his first time outside since we arrived, and then he was too out of it I think to register the chaos). I lay in bed and read or dozed all afternoon, feeling quite terrible. I did read Ngugi’s Weep not, child, which was very good, reminded me to read more about the Mau Mau before going to Kenya. It was excellent (and short), and it took me to another time or age, when I was a teenager, and postcolonial fiction felt urgent and fresh, but now it seems to come from so long ago. Although I felt ill, and the noise from outside is near constant in the living room, the dozing did me well. Generally, the human sounds blended into a sort of stream, though the honking and metallic clangs were harder to ignore.
By the evening I was better, well enough to give the GF a near-incomprehensible overview of the Mau Mau insurrection, and to do a bit of urgent work. I am determined to be well again tomorrow.
At least, having got this flu, I no longer have to sleep in the smelling living room on a sofa that is too short even for me. I expect a good night’s sleep will make all the difference.