Its day 9....

In the Mexican Big Brother house. Simon and SWMBO are on the beach, Jackie and Mark are snorkeling and Dave and Lesley are going for their lunch.

So far Big Brother has not evicted any of the housemates, although it was a close run thing on day 4 when SWMBO fell during the dressing up task and broke her elbow.

The BB medical team patched her up and she was straight back into the fray.

Simon was called to the diary room and warned that any more high jinks would result in him being asked to be official sun cream application monitor for the group, and be banned from the gym.

The anticipated hurricane passed to the West of the BB house so the excited American residents have returned to the beach from their shelters.

Tomorrow Big Brother has arranged drinking games in Playa Del Carmen for the residents, we can't wait.

Oink, Oink

So a new strain of flu is spreading its way around the world as a result of the initial outbreak in Mexico. We are all checking ourselves here to ensure we have not developed small curly tails, pointy ears or large square looking noses. I guess that anybody who looks like Shrek is being viewed with suspicion, so I wonder if Manchester United have put Wayne Rooney into quarantine?

It is not surprising that cases are starting to be identified across the globe given the number of people in the air at any one time. On Sunday morning I drove past the runway at Heathrow, past Hatton Cross, and the aircraft takeoff route was right above us to the East. In the six or seven minutes it took me to pass the three sets of lights on the A30, five jumbo's took off. Thats about 2000 people, or 20,000 per hour, just from one airport.

I remember when the flu virus mutated into Asian flu some years ago and there were a number of fatalities particularly amongst the older population. It did hit Britain during the Winter, however, and I suspect the fact we are entering our warmest period now may contribute to the reduced effects the virus seems to be having here. Mexico is one of the most polluted countries in the world, and the air quality in Mexico City in particular is very poor. I am confident that sensible precautions in the UK will contain this strain as just another 'bad cold'.

Anyway, its early so I must go and stick my snout in the trough.