Sequence of unrelated events? I don't think so.

The story starts about 3 weeks ago just before paddlers hit our local river in the annual and much hyped "Duzi Canoe Marathon" here in Pietermaritzburg, SA, Africa, Earth. You see, we have a most unwelcome E.Coli bacterium lurking in the river, made worse with recent heavy rains. Upstream, the sewerage systems or lack thereof pushes faeces into the river and so the levels of the bacteria, which induce "Duzi Gut" aka bad gastro and who knows what else, had skyrocketed to total unacceptability. Canoe authorities where considering moving the race downstream to more diluted pastures, but local water authorities apparently kept close watch on the levels and announced they think the levels had subsided due to the few sunny days (the bacteria is killed off by sunshine). Two days prior to the race, we yet again had heavy rains and I decided to take a drive to the start of the race at Camps Drift with my camera. I took a few pictures which News24.com sported on the front page, where I doubted that E.Coli levels were really down as the smell and even visible rubbish clinging to the trees made me re-affirm my vow of never setting toe in this river. Ever. On that day, I had those them Croco shoes on that are taking the world by storm and as I stepped close to the river for better pictures, they and my feet got quite muddy. Eeek. So disgusted was I with this that I put the Crocos (cheap fake version, sorry) in the washing machine along with a bright red overnight bag made in Peru. The end result was that not only did my white Crocos come out pink (that overnight bag really did quite a bit of dyeing), they had also SHRUNK!!! beyond salvation. I recon they're now a size 5 and I'm a size 7. Maybe Ma will want them, although she probably won't think they're decent dress code for an 85-year old. Maybe. Anyway, so that was what I got for my troubles.

The start of the race was not moved and authorities claimed levels were save and acceptable. Now, two weeks after the race, the papers are full of reports that more than 50% of paddlers DID get Duzi Guts and related illnesses and the Canoe authorities are so incensed that they are threatening to pull the plug on the race unless the levels drop. It makes me wonder VERY much how dare the water authorities take it upon themselves to declare the river fit for the race when they must have known full well that it wasn't, at the cost of the paddlers health????

But now I'm also wondering about something else: I was sick as a dog this weekend, I was nauseous, had a headache and a stiff neck. For 3 days I was woman down, sleeping 80% of the time and eating almost nothing. I was worried that it could have been meningitis, but my GP isn't open on weekends anymore and I was damned if I was going to brave the emergency unit at Mediclinic. By Monday I was fine again. Luckily. Here's the crux: I had a sore on my toe while I took the pictures at the Duzi and it just wouldn't heal. I wonder if this virus could be something I picked up there? I'm a computer geek, not a medic, but I am wondering since I've no idea how else I got sick.