Getting the flu will do all sorts of strange things to you. Not only have I done nothing more strenuous than walk up and down a few flights of stairs in the past two weeks, but I’ve also lost my writing muscle, which had started to firm up through writing this blog, some freelance pieces and, as a hired gun, lots of strategic research papers and funding applications.

The upside of having the flu? Catching up on my plastic-wrapped airmail New Yorkers. Well, almost – which is as good as it will ever get with that magazine.