No peace for the wicked, no sickpay for the self-employed

I woke up on Monday morning to find that someone had filled my sinuses with cement. I went to Zumba class hoping to sweat it out, but it didn't work, and I have been surviving the week on a diet of blackcurrant tea and Beechams tablets. I feel very cross with myself when I succumb to something as pathetic as the common cold, because I'm always banging on to my yoga students about the importance of keeping the immune system strong. Pile on the guilt! But I've struggled on (can you smell burning martyr?) because, as the heading implies, if I don't work I don't eat.

I was hit by a blow to the finances yesterday. My car is less than a year old but there were some niggly little bits that needed sorting out:

1. The petrol cap kept sticking, so a new spring was replaced under warranty: no charge.
2. The air-con light kept coming on intermittently: my fault apparently. The mechanic helpfully left the instruction booklet open on the passenger seat at the page explaining how to work the climate control system. No charge, but a little bit patronising, do you think?
3. The kicker: the heated windscreen was only clearing on the passenger side. Apparently there is a tiny crack caused by a flying pebble that has damaged the wires inside the glass. So it can't be repaired, only replaced. And since it's damage, not wear and tear it's not covered by the warranty. It is covered by my insurance, but there's a £75 excess to pay. Sigh.

I have a busy day today. I shouldn't really be sitting here blogging. I am putting the finishing subbing touches to the February issues of journals for the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and the Institute of Operations Management (be still my beating heart); I've just sent off my column for this Saturday's local paper; I'm invigilating a couple of exams this afternoon; teaching yoga at 6pm; and then off to my first committee meeting of the choir that kindly lets me sing along with them. Not sure why I've been asked to join this committee, but I couldn't think of a reason to say no.

Onwards!