Germs – Where do they come from?

If you have tried calling me the last two days you will know that I am off sick at the moment with a stinking cold that has flattened me like a ginger bread man. The dreaded Man-Flu perhaps?

Not sure, but I’ve been forced to take a couple of days off because my voice has almost disappeared, like a quieter version of Marlon Brando’s Godfather character, with a lot of coughing mixed in. Not pleasant at all.

So as I sit here in my bed feeling sorry for myself, surrounded by a vast array of cold and flu medicine, I can’t help wondering who is to blame for me being sick?

The thing is, as most of my customers know, I work from home. So I tend to be around the house most days whilst I’m working, fairly isolated from all the horrible little germs and bugs that people carry around outside. Also I pride myself on my immune system, I am literally never ill. My other half actually gets quite jealous! It’s genuinely been a good 18 months or more since I’ve been ill, and even that was probably self induced #redwine

But while we’re on the subject of the boss, I think it might be her that has made me ill!

You see, she is a teacher, so spends all day with the grubby little blighters. Coughing, sneezing and not washing their hands. As me and my mates would say, it’s ‘grote’ which is short for grotesque. No doubt she has brought something home with her which has jumped straight into my nose the second she saw me. Swine.

(Blows nose)

Anyway, since I’m ill, she will probably get ill as well, which evens the scales a little. Karma.

But being a cruise blogger, this being ill malarkey got me thinking about just how easy the spread of germs actually is.

You hear some horrific stories of the dreaded Norovirus, which is famous on cruise ships and cruise lines. It can be unavoidable if enough contract it. I have seen people with the sickness and believe me it’s very serious. Think pneumonia with extra vomit. If you contract this disease aboard, it will ruin the holiday and ruin the fortnight after you get back. Very severe indeed. Especially for an older person whose immune systems are naturally weaker than someone younger.

But where do the germs on ships come from?

Most people would suggest it might be the staff, unfortunately we don’t know their own levels of personal hygiene, are they as clean as the uniform suggests? Are their hands as friendly as their smile? Who knows. The crew would probably go mad at me for suggesting that, and would almost certainly blame the customers. Again when you are walking around these people, you are not to know what they have been doing? If they sanitized their hands, or if they have showered in the last 3 days?!

It’s all a bit of a mystery.

Of course the cruise lines do all they can to combat it, the alcohol gel which is planted everywhere is a godsend and keeps most germs at bay, and it was this that got me thinking, why do they not roll this out in schools and other public places? Imagine if it was mandatory to gel your hands going into your office canteen or school dining hall etc – surely this would cut down the amount of spreadable bacteria?

Wouldnt you want to know that your staff were clean and adequately sanitized before they come into contact with an object that someone else uses? A kettle? A microwave? A vending machine?

All germ spreaders these pieces of kit.

I think the cruise lines are on a winner with the hand gel, and I definitely think it should be rolled out into general day to day places, to cut down illness.

You can see i’m basically bitter and frustrated about being ill clearly but if my suggestion was already used, I might not be sat here stewing in my own mucus (insert grim image here).

Have you been a victim of Norovirus? Or maybe you are just full of a cold and want to vent like I have?

Do you think we should have hand gel santizers in our workplaces and schools?

Any feedback on my topics raised would be great!

I hope to be fighting fit again in the next couple of days so look forward to getting back to work!

Thanks for reading and as ever, until next time……………