Normally the only pictures we see of someone wearing masks and gloves are those of Wacko Jacko on a shopping spree.

Now we're seeing 'normal' people like you and me parading round in the same get-up while going about their daily business. Give them a chimpanzee and a trilby and I'd swear everyone was turning into Michael Jackson clones.

The fear of swine flu has made its way into my family too. While out shopping with my mum, she suddenly announced that she had a 'few things' to buy from the supermarket.

She grabbed a basket and before I knew it, it was filled with two types of alcohol gel, some hand wipes, some toilet seat wipes, tissues and anti-bacterial spray. What's more, they're all to be kept in her handbag, 'just in case'.

"Better to be safe than sorry", she told me, as the woman next to her nodded in agreement, and picked up some gel of her own.

I tried to be helpful by suggesting she buy some floor wipes to wrap round her shoes, but even my mum thought that was going a wee bit too far.

I even offered to buy her a thermometer and spray to use on any guests she may have, but she resisted that idea too.

Even my poor dad has been affected by the flu-threat. For as long as I can remember, he's always had a neat little hankie in his pocket – ironed especially for him by my very patient mum. But now, knowing that these little cotton squares could be the breeding ground for many a hideous bug, my mum has confiscated his hankies in favour of packs of
tissues instead.

My dad's not pleased, but unless he's willing to wash his own germ-spreading squares, he's out of luck.

As for me, well one thing does intrigue me about all this.

During the winter I don't know a single person who didn't get flu or a very bad cold, and many people said they'd never known a winter like it.

So my question is this… is it possible that swine flu has been hanging around this country for the past five or six months, but we just didn't know about it?

It's pretty credible I think, and definitely worth thinking about.