Week commencing 10 February – I performed in the Abbots Langley Gilbert & Sullivan Society’s production of Ruddigore at Watford Palace Theatre. This was my twenty-fifth performance at the theatre with ALGSS – something I really looked forward to every year. But this time something wasn’t quite right. My singing voice wasn’t very good – it sounded really thin, and I had felt very tired during the long rehearsal period.
I really struggled to get into and out of the heavy costumes and there were four costume changes in all for every performance. All around me members of the cast were suffering from really bad colds and respiratory infections. The next week I developed a really bad cold with a very annoying cough. The news about the Coronavirus continued to develop. There were now confirmed cases in the UK. Had I had it? On Friday 28 February I still had the remnants of the infection and was taking decongestants and Benylin for the annoying cough. We drove to the airport for our flight to Hanoi and discussed the fact that things might be very different by the time we got home.