"I can't sleep, Mum," said daughter plaintively. Well, it was 3.30am and neither of us were asleep.

Daughter had decided to wait for one of the hottest weeks on record before going down with a virus that is causing her to have a high temperature and a cough and me to lie awake worrying that she is developing meningitis or something else dreadful.

She has spent most of the week sleeping on a mattress on the floor of the lounge, the coolest room in the house, with two fans on her whilst I administer paracetamol every six hours and wipe her forehead with cool cloths.

This, of course, means that I'm not getting much sleep either, which isn't much fun the next day at work.

She's also pretty miserable because she can't go and do all the fun things in the sun she had planned.

Still, although her temperature is still high, she doesn't seem to have developed any other worrying symptoms so I am hoping she will be better soon.

Sam the dog has been doing his faithful canine bit and is spending his days curled up at her feet keeping an eye on her, or more likely hoping for a taste of the bits of food she keeps asking for and then not eating.

The hot weather is not helping, of course, and I have been feeling pretty hot and sticky myself.

I decided to go and get all my hair cut off the other day, partly because I just do not have the time to do all the blow drying and straightening stuff to make it look fine plus, I'm not very good at it so while the front may look passable, the back view tends to be more birds nest than sleek and smooth.

"Are you sure?" said the girl in the hairdressers when I asked for a short back and sides. In the end she believed me and set about transforming me from scruffy middle-aged woman with ponytail to someone who looked a bit like I used to when I was younger and had short hair.

I like my new look and it's certainly easier to look after, requiring a quick dunk under the shower each day rather than a 40-minute session with the hairdryer.

Him indoors said it looked great, daughter said it looked fine from her sick bed and the dog didn't seem to notice so I think that meant family approval was gained. It's certainly much cooler in the current heatwave, although my neck needs to catch up with the rest of my tan.

Anyway, the new hairstyle will be easier to look after when daughter and I go on our holiday to Greece in a couple of weeks, which I booked at the last minute the other day.

Him indoors has already been away to Spain this year so we are leaving him to work and look after all the animals while we jet off to Skiathos for a week at the end of the month.

I am looking forward to it and have already started collecting all the bits and pieces of paraphernalia we will need to take with us, like spare films for the camera and sun tan lotion.

Daughter is hoping that her current illness means she will have lost lots of weight and will be skinny enough to look amazing in her collection of seven bikinis, one for each day of the week.

Despite my new youthful short hair, I think I will stick to a one-piece costume, which will save me from having to hold my tummy in every day for a whole week.