Shingles
Until today, I had not seen my old friend Bert for just over two weeks. I opened his door and called in, "Bert! It's me Yorkshire Pudding!" Then I went into his back room where he spends almost all of his time sitting side on to the blaring television. I had brought him a fresh "Banner Crust" sausage roll in a paper bag. I was taken aback when I saw him because he is in the middle of a shingles attack. One side of his face is perfectly normal but the other side is reddened and a little swollen with a cluster of dark scabbing around his right eye and forehead - rather like the poor woman at the top of this blogpost. Bert appears to be over the peak of the attack and in ten days or so he should be fine though there could be some lasting scarring. Shingles is most common in the elderly and over in America one in three senior citizens will probably experience it. Though I have been invited to my local health centre for an anti-shingles vaccination later this mon...