Fighting Fit / Shopping Failure

:-) Recovery
It's amazing how quickly people adapt to a change in environment or circumstances. When I injured my leg back in the Spring it was only a few hours before the limping gait I had to use to move around started to feel natural, like my "normal walk". In fact, the rather Long-John-Silver-like way in which I had to climb stairs during that time persisted, even after I regained full use of my calf muscles. Similarly the cold I've had for the last few days has brought shivers, aches and congestion, resulting in a weakened state that after a while felt like the "normal" me.
How great it feels then, when the cold symptoms start to disappear, your old strength returns, and you experience what seems to be abundant energy and strength because of the contrast between what you are now able to do and the "normality" of being ill.

I feel better today!

:-( Bloody Riyadh shopping again!
Ramadan's over now, so shopping should be back to normal, right? Right, except in Riyadh there's no such thing as normal.
I went out this morning to buy Karen's birthday present (I can't tell you what, or which shop I planned to visit because it would give the game away). I left deliberately just after 10am, knowing that very few shops here ever bother opening before then, and also mindful that they would be closing at around 11.45 for prayer time, then staying closed until around 4-4.30 pm. I drove about 5 miles into the city, queued up to get into the underground car park, spent 20 minutes searching for a parking space, only to find that the shop I wanted was closed anyway! Aaaarrgghh!!!!
Now I'm going to have to either find a different outlet or go out present-shopping at 10 o'clock at night.