Apparently there's a flu going around; it certainly made it's way to me. Thankfully my sinuses and chest are starting to clear, and I feel like its on its last legs.

I haven't been up to terribly much. Over the last few days I've mostly been reading and sleeping, to be honest. Two books: one about a guy who cycled around the world a couple of years ago and an Irish language book about... sad teenagers and failing relationships, I guess. When I finish reading it, it'll be the second Irish book I'll have ever read (and indeed the second non-English book).

I've gone for a walk every day for the past few days, too, for about an hour. This probably isn't such a big deal for the more physically active on Hubski, but I've spent a lot of time cooped up inside over the winter, and it's been good to get out into the fresh air. Dry air, too; it hasn't rained all week.

Working tomorrow in the pub; day shift. I have no idea what the hours in the pub will be like over the next while, though I expect the post-Christmas season will be fairly quiet. Naturally this is sending me into fresh fits of freaking out about the future and what I'm going to do.

But here's a heartwarming story for you! A little background info: pubs in Ireland have fairly early closing hours, but hotel bars are technically exempt from this - they can stay open later for their residents; they just can't admit anyone to the bar after the usual hour.

There's a hotel directly adjacent to the pub I work in. The three of us on duty cleaned up very quickly that night, my boss handed me my pay for the shift (cash straight into the pocket) and the three of us headed into the hotel there for a few drinks after work; this was around two in the morning. One of my coworkers knows the bartender in the hotel, who let us in.

Now, my coworker drinks fast and refused to let me pay for any of our drinks. We had five pints in the space of about an hour and a half. I think it was just about four when they called a taxi, and I set off home on foot, since I only live five minutes down the road.

Then I checked my pocket, and discovered that my pay was missing. I managed to lose the cash between leaving the place I work and walking literally one door down to the bar of the hotel, where I now believe it left my pocket while I was trying unsuccessfully to pay for a round of drinks.

Naturally, this put me in an absolutely foul mood. I went up to the hotel the next day and asked if they'd found it, to no avail. After a bit of lunch to settle my stomach, I popped in next door to the place where I work, and sat down at the bar with a coffee chatting to the owner, my boss' father. He asked me about the night before, and I mentioned how hungover I was from the drinking and how angry with myself about the money I'd managed to lose so stupidly.

That night I went to work again and after we had finished up, I made sure to put the cash away carefully in the inside pocket of my jacket. As were were leaving, though, my boss came up to me, handed me another shift's pay, and said his dad had told him to give it to me. I tried to refuse, but he said it was orders from the top.

I feel a bit awkward about it now, but I just think it's unbelievably nice that the guy replaced my lost wages like that, after I lost them so carelessly.