COUGH

Oh man, that's the last time I leave London: I step outside and bam, bubonic plague. Symptoms of bubonic plague include, but are not limited to, vomiting, nausea, more vomiting, feeling sick at having to push the lumpy bits through the sinkhole because it was nearer than the toilet, egg-like testicles and armpits, more nasty itchy peely stuff, and death within four days. With three days left, I have to admit I'm a little worried, but I'm trying to remain optimistic, and I'm confident I can beat this thing. It hurts. It hurts a lot, but the emotional pain is far worse as I feel I've been let down by... well, everyone who ever told me there was no chance I'd ever catch the plague. I'd cry but they're only going to pump me full of saline solution when I finally decide to go to hospital.

One thousand years after the Judeo-Christian armageddon which wiped out all of humanity and un peu d'inhumanity the Great Fire of London broke out - much like the Chicago Fire, but east a bit. An ungoogled number of years prior to the fire, bubonic plague broke out across Europe - much like the Chicago Fire, but east a bit and with the emphasis more on plague than fire. Just as paper beats rock, so fire beats plague. Six people died in the fire, compared with more than six who died in the plague; just as you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, adding cheese and whichever vegetables you want, seasoning to taste... well, not to taste because that'd mean eating raw egg, which is only good if you're a pregnant elderly and infirm child, then frying, before browning the top in a preheated oven, so you can't cure plague without sending six people to a crispy painful grave and burning down London in its entirety, bar one little girl's diary and Samuel Pepys' teddy bear.

All of which is fine for the present day inhabitants of our nation's capital, or inhabitants of anywhere not in plague-ridden Europe, but puts a bit of a dampener on proceedings for the rest of us, including people like me who pretend they live in London and then left London and caught the plague. "Oh you've got bubonic plague and are spreading it to everyone to come into contact with? Fantastic. Cough." Three days to go before I die of plague, and the only cure is to burn everything around me. Come here, let me pour petrol on you. "Oh you're going to pour petrol on me and set alight to it so you don't have bubonic plague anymore? Fantastic. Aieeee." Oops, rather personal and nasty. Ah well, at least I'll still be alive in three days. Toodle pip old bean.