feeling sorry for myself

I have a cold. It is not particularly ferocious yet, but I am feeling washed out, and the perception of a crab squatting mid-throat is hard to get rid of.

But I did an adequate day's work, and it's the weekend, and I managed to get some of the weekly grocery shop done on the way home so that even if I do feel much worse tomorrow, at least that's out of the way.

---

Crowds of evil demons and monsters,
Wolf spirits at all four gates.
Striped tigers are the commanders;
White-faced tiger-cats are senior officers.
Antlered stags carry documents around;
Cunning foxes walk along the streets.
Thousand-foot pythons slither round the walls;
Twenty-mile serpents occupy the roads.
At the base of high towers grey wolves shout commands;
Leopards speak in human voices by pavilions.
Standard-bearers and drummers -- all are monsters;
Mountain spirits patrol and stand sentry.
Crafty hares open shops to trade;
Wild boars carry their loads to do business.
What used to be the capital of a heavenly dynasty
Has now become a city of wolves and tigers.

-- Journey to the West, translated by WJF Jenner