Thanks to Katherine at Supply and Demands for this lovely cuppa. Such a beautiful cup and saucer, so dainty and sweet, but never judge a cup by it’s saucer honeys. My one contains two packets of Proplus, half a can of redbull and a double espresso but you’d never notice….

As you all know……..I’m very, very tired, and the rules are here and I’m going to do my best to post 10 but my eyelids may not allow, so keep this for now…

Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.

Pass the award to 10 other blogs that you have newly discovered. Remember to contact the blogger to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Well number one goes to the Good Charlotte…tea(sic) hee -

She’s here at anknelandburblets.com – lovely design and a lovely lady (I know she likes coffee in the morning…but I’m sure she’ll appreciate this cuppa!

Glamumous – Fabulous, glamorous, I’m-so-very-jealous, have a cuppa on me….

I love these hardworking ladies at Totsy, what a blog

littlemummy.com She’s new to me, she’s funny and snappy and snazzy

Justaplanerideaway - This pan handler, she’s plane great…sorry…bad puns!

Peter at pressofficeparents.blogspot.com – really good to see people blogging about Parentline Plus and I think this is great – stick the kettle on will ya?

Sticky fingers because this post I’ve linked to made me laugh out loud – it’s just sublime!

This is a great one – Mollychicken – and I am hoping Madame will knit me a tea cup too

Dulwich Mum has put us all to rights on how to deal with Swine Flu so she deserves a nice cuppa too

and another new one to me, 3kidsnojob – talking swine again….I’m sure tea boosts the immune system…

I got on the tube from Victoria on Friday and some bloke launched himself out of the carriage and onto the platform wheeling luggage and sporting a face mask. OH MY – OH MY! I was tempted to check his inbound luggage tag, seriously, because I’d be worried if it was from Mexico. I never got a chance, because he was running at full tilt. Happy to report though that I feel fine and haven’t sneezed or anything just yet.

Phew! So checking in to the weekend, I’m glad to be out of the rat race and was looking forward to some high maintenance pampering. But I can’t escape the fear, I go to my beauty salon and they are wearing masks…and coughing…blimey O’Riley…people are getting a bit scared, and it’s too close to home. And again, I’m feeling fine.

To be honest, I can’t believe my ears, eyes and all my other senses right now. I’ve been reading the online newspapers and found this crazy story on the Daily Telegraph online, 26,500 people have pulled a swine flu sicky. Surely it’s just pre Bank holiday hang overs and more wine than swine?? Well maybe not so. Think about it – a credit crunched nation living in fear of unemployment would surely not be so obviously opportunist and expect employers to be so gullible? Does everyone just want a day or so off, even when a Bank Holiday is looming?

Now, I am not sure how they got these numbers but I do find the whole thing pretty strange. If we are all at such great risk, a cover up is futile surely?

So let’s take a step back, we have a Bank Holiday weekend (the only thing we can thank banks for these days), some people will pull a sicky and there is no measurement against previous years to say whether it is the norm or not, but what is so alarming is the way this is reported.

Apparently there is a cover up.

I only read papers online these days, but today I felt like buying in the whole heavy load of paper and having a retro newspaper day, supplements and all. So I’m now faced with a pile of newspapers which I’ve scanned through and I’m left feeling a bit cheated because the real news is buried. It’s all the same celeb moneyland/credit crunch stories stuff, peppered with Swine flu. On page 13 of today’s News of the World, the story runs; Swine Flu Cover-up, Victim told not to mention he mixed with 1,500 fans at gig. I’m keenly aware this couple who came back from honeymoon employed a publicist to sell their version of events – but how far is this going to go?

I can’t find this story on the News of the World web site. So I wonder if there was some edict that this Swine Flu Cover Up story is barred from being online. I’m looking at the newspaper again as I write, and it just doesn’t feel right. Hidden away on page 13 is this big story, while Garry Glitter and Kate Winselt hog the front page (pardon the pun). So hang on a minute – 1,500 people exposed to an infected person – how far can this disease go? Very far apparently, it’s exponential – 1 person meets 10 people and then it spreads and those 10 people meet another 10 people, that’s how disease spreads.

Stories like these are deeply disturbing and my concern is that a) they are so far back in the newspaper that they are manufactured so they are not important or b) they are so important that they get buried among a dumbed down news agenda. Am I being cynical here??

On the flipside, we are having a heatwave, and almost at the Silly Season in the media where it’s all just light hearted and whacky. Funny that SATs and GSCEs are also imminent – so a prank call could shut down a school pretty easily if someone so much as mentioned the Swine Flu test, but it’s a serious claim and we are as a nation taking it seriously and following guidelines, which is what is going on in South Hampstead.

I am concerned about this disease/virus/plague/end of the world/whatever thing, and only time will tell. In the mean time, it’s all out fun…and Mexico this Summer is cancelled until I hear more.