I went down with a horrible 'flu-like cold last weekend and after soldiering on for a while had to retire to bed for a couple of days.

I'm always very reluctant to do this, being a great believer in the old adage "Children get colds, men get 'flu and women get on with it".

However, this time I really did feel bad and had to succumb to the lure of the duvet.

I must have looked properly ill, as both daughter and him indoors brought me bowls of chicken soup and boxes of tissues.

It was all very reassuring, like when I was little and Mum looked after me. I slept for 26 hours and woke up feeling more like myself.

Getting ready for work on my first day back, I decided to wrap up warmly like mother always told me to. "Morning," I said, as I entered the kitchen.

"Oh God, you're not wearing that cardigan to work are you?" said daughter. Said cardigan is a chunky, burnt orange affair, with a zip up the front. Okay, it's not the latest from Gap but I like it. "What's wrong with it?" I asked.

She didn't say anything, just sniggered. Him indoors carried on making the coffee but I could tell he was raising one eyebrow and twitching his lips. This is how men from Yorkshire snigger. I decided I didn't care and was keeping my comfy cardi on.

Five minutes passed while we ate breakfast.

"Are you going to work with your hair like that?" asked daughter through a mouthful of toast.

My hair had woken up in a strangely curly mood that I had been unable to tame. So I hid in the bathroom to spray it with stuff to make it lie flat.

I returned to the kitchen to finish my breakfast and started singing along to Dire Straits on the radio.

I am not a good singer but I enjoy my singing even if no one else does. I admit I couldn't really reach the top notes because I will still a bit croaky but I still say their reaction was unfair.

"It is not nice to laugh at mothers and wives who still have colds and who are going to work," I said.

I have now decided to get up an hour earlier than usual.

This means I can sip my coffee in peace. It also means they then get up in a rush and I can be the one who smugly says, "You can't go to school with your skirt all creased like that." and "Have you seen your hair this morning, darling?".