Somehow, I picked up an ear infection last week. On Thursday evening, I was meant to be flying for a short one hour flight but pulled the pin and postponed the trip because my ear did not feel right.  A visit to the doctor an hour later confirmed I did the right thing. The doctor told me that if I had flown,  I was at risk of damaging my ear drum. She also said there was a five per cent chance I could have caused permanent hearing damage. She prescribed no flying for seven days and a course of antibiotics and ear drops. What would you do in this situation? Would you risk flying?

The good news is that  I was back in Australia and not still on the South island of New Zealand. Getting from there to Melbourne by train or bus would have been somewhat problematic!

So no flying, this week! I am driving the 660km distance from Melbourne to Canberra in Australia on Monday. I will be taking  the Yass to Melbourne  train back mid week! 660km is twice the distance of London to Edinburgh! It is the same distance from Rome, Italy to Lucerne /Lucerne, Switzerland. Or about the same as driving from Long Beach, California to San Francisco, California.