The drama of the World Cup the past couple of days had been intense. Brazil, the hosts, massacred by Germany! Argentina slew the Netherlands in a second penalty shoot-out!

Just as the excitement was starting to die down, it hit. Intense throbbing, blurred vision, more throbbing. A headache unlike any Joey had felt before.

He endured it until lunchtime, the medicine cabinet having nothing to ease the pain. The chemist down the road had the usual prescriptions, though they were to little avail.

The walk home from work was unusually eventful. Two patches of footpath gained some nonartistic vomit-coloured paintwork. The nausea was agonising.

Chicken soup was the order of the night, and an early crawl into bed.