The bit of the news I found particularly interesting was the new ‘cocktail’ that I hadn’t heard about previously – whisky with sweet green tea. I might have to try that. All kinds of health benefits!

So we both came down with a cold (probably not helped by being crammed into our tiny office until the move last Thursday).

Unfortunate side-effects of having colds have included grumpiness, sore heads, a tendency to snap at each other and feeling a bit stupid. All of the above symptoms (except possibly the last one) are cured by a good dose of whisky (OK – the sore heads are only cured temporarily).

A nice Islay whisky is perfect for clearing the tubes. If you can’t smell Ardbeg Very Young, you’re probably dead – it’s certainly not any kind of cold I’ve ever come across.

When our Internet connection went down for 5 days, it was pretty much the last straw (capping an even worse couple of weeks for Duncan, when he had been hit on the head with a hockey stick (someone on his own team!) and chipped a tooth on some pork crackling I cooked him!). I was feeling very much the worse for wear, when I spied a miniature bottle of Bowmore I had received for my birthday.

Islay whisky to the rescue

Now Bowmore is not my all time favourite whisky (it’s not even my favourite whisky from the tiny little island it’s from) but it is mighty fine nevertheless, and a wee dram later, I was feeling pretty content. The magic, however, came when I woke up this morning entirely cured of my cold. Miraculous.

I’m sure there will be doubters who will tell you that I was about to get better from it anyway and the whisky had nothing to do with it.

To them, I say “each to his own, but anything that gives me an excuse to have a dram of the islay whisky can’t possibly be a bad thing”