My Partner Unit, during a cold once, told me that a man with a cold is in as much intense agony as a woman giving birth. I asked him how the sniffles compares with pushing something the size of a watermelon out of something the size of a lemon, but by then he had lost consciousness due to all the pain from his fever.

Or it could have been from me knocking him upside the head, not sure which.

But I do hope you feel better, dear. You leave a big quiet cow-udder sucking shaped hole when you are quiet. Will email you some chicken soup (if it screws up your pc, don't blame me).

Feel better soon.

He was right, Helen. It's not a physical agony but an emotional one. You see, when a man is ill he knows that some cromagnon is going to come and take his woman and then he's going to be eaten by a saber tooth tiger in his weakened state. This is an ingrained biological knowledge straight from the reptile brain and has nothing to do with logical or previous experience of successfully surviving a sickness. It's just the way it is and we all know that eventually we'll be putting down a tissue and look up to see 8 inch fangs coming towards our face.

So you see, we're not being babies. Every sickness really is a life or death situation for a man.

Thanks Jennifer :)

Oh Man.

You did NOT just compare the sniffles to your favorite caveman/build fire allegory, did you?

Oh Man.

Everything eventually comes back to the fire, Helen. All of it.