at present you are a nuisance to your friends and a disgrace to your country's legislature

[cimorene]

So far, this appears to be a quite mild case of shingles, from what I've been able to gather. It's annoying and worrying, but it hasn't become more than slightly and intermittently painful. I'm not sure if I'm extraordinarily lucky, or if I'm just young enough to make mild symptoms much more likely. We are also having a cold snap again, though it's not really all that cold, only a little bit below the freezing point and a little bit more snow.