We didn’t have Christmas. We had the norovirus.

I’m pretty well back up to speed by now – although “speed” doesn’t imply anything very brisk, these days. My husband is still very weak, although making progress. We are living on Jewish penicillin.

We had Christmas Eve.

We had Boxing Day.

But nothing in between.

My husband was taken ill in the early hours of Christmas Day. We cancelled Mass-going right away – it would have meant leaving him alone in the house for nearly two hours, by the time we got to Inverary and back..

James and his family were sleeping a mile or so away, in the former butler’s quarters of the Big House, now converted into a pleasant self-catering flat. We soon learned that James had been sick all night, so we cancelled Christmas Dinner. His daughter Kirsty joined him on the casualty list a few hours later.

So we who were still walking had a lovely, leisurely day, lunching on delicious left-over lasagne. It couldn’t have been planned. I can’t remember why we cancelled champagne and present-giving as the dark drew in. I was disappointed about that.

Boxing Day started well (see above). I was stricken in the late afternoon. The Little Boys joined me during the night. The next day – it’s Thursday, by now -- James drove us back to Edinburgh in the huge people-carrier he had hired. James was fine by then. My husband and I found it tough going, but  it was good to be back in our own bed. James’ daughter Rachel fell to the dread lurgy on Friday.

Before we left Loch Fyne, however, on Thursday morning, Alexander trumped us all. He hadn’t been feeling entirely well throughout. He felt tingly, he said. Now he had developed a painful rash, self-diagnosed as shingles. A doctor confirmed the guess that afternoon. He’s taking anti-viral drugs and pain-killers. But it means weeks of pain, at the very least.

Big-Rachel’s family from London replaced us on the shores of Loch Fyne. When I last heard, one of them had gone down and another wasn’t feeling very well.

But they are safely back in London now, and the Beijing Mileses are back in Beijing (and didn’t get sick during the journey). And, as Alexander said the last time I spoke to him, it only happens once a year.