What is the last thing you learned?

7 years in Ireland passed without me trying hot whiskey. I just wasn’t a whiskey girl back then. I didn’t hate it but it was too heavy, too smokey for my taste.

But whenever I got sick, people were like “Com’ h’re, you do this at home, so you do” (I spent most of these years in Northern Ireland, the “so you do/will/are” were their favourite sentence-closers, so it was.)

But I never did in the end.

Today that changed. I’ve been under the weather since Sunday but today it really bothered me: hard to breathe, hard to speak, and worst of all, hard to think.

Normally I’d take the day off but I’ll be out of office from Wednesday so I’ve loads to do before that. So I soldiered on.

By the end of the day I wasn’t quite sure I understood 5+5=10. So when dinner didn’t help, and I caught a facebook video with women in the 60’s talking about home remedies (creepy of Facebook, I gotta admit), including hot whiskey, I felt it was time.

It washed down all the virus, bacteria from my throat with the first sip. It cleaned up my nose in the second. It made me woozy by the end of the cup. (Who knows what I’m writing now…)

It still tasted awful. Healing, yes, delicious, no.

The recipe is simple if you’d like to try it:

• 1 portion whiskey
• 2 portion water
• 1 ts lemon juice
• 1 ts honey
• Some ginger and cinnamon

So the last thing I learned? Home remedies still rock. Facebook is still creepy. Ireland still has my heart.

Hope your Friday is going better!