Sometimes, Depression is the Only Rational Response

The doctor says it's shingles, a variation of Chicken Pox that affects adults. Apparently you don't 'catch' it. The herpes virus that causes chicken pox lives in your nerves from childhood and when your defences are down, wham, it flares up and you get shingles. Well, in 60-odd years this is the only time its done that. Very unpleasant. 

I'd like to write something witty and funny about my experience but that angle escapes me. Maybe if I was Mark Twain I could do it but right now I just feel deflated and depressed. I also thought that maybe I could come up with some insights into looking after one's health on a boat. But that escapes me too. Nobody knows how to prevent shingles, or cure it, or even alleviate the symtoms, apart from basic painkillers such as paracetamol and ibubrofen, and sorbolene for the skin. You get it, you suffer, you come out the other end, you just try not to get any secondary infections or other nasties along the way.

And there is no reason for it. You are supposed to be stressed or have a compromised immune system or something. I am healthy, reasonably unstressed and really can't see why this has occurred.

Anjea seems far, far away, both in place and time. I won't be moving to Hobart until July — six weeks. The good news is that I booked a passage on the ferry for July 1. I will drive from Maldon to the Spirit of Tasmania which leaves fromPort Melbourne and arrives in Devonport the following morning. Then I'll drive slowly down to Hobart, stopping frequently, to be there by nightfall. I don't know Tasmania well at all. I always intended to go there 'one day' but kept putting it off. So this road trip is a chance to see bits of Tasmania that I have not seen and am unlikely to see when I sail around the place.

In the mean time I really can't help but feel very down.