Am off to work now, feeling much less cold-ridden than yesterday. This is obviously the time of year for colds – I quote Samuel Pepys’ diary entry from 27 September 1663:

At night to supper, though with little comfort, I finding myself both head and breast in great pain, and what troubles me most my right ear is almost deaf. It is a cold, which God Almighty in justice did give me while I sat lewdly sporting with Mrs. Lane the other day. I went to bed with a posset, being very melancholy in consideration of the loss of my hearing.

I don’t think I can put down my cold to anything more exciting than the rain in London on Monday!