I know it's the beginning of the 'season to be jolly' but in the schools it's the beginning of the 'season to be sick'.

Colds and bugs are rife and seem to pass from child to child.

My wee daughter was off school last week and now my wee niece is off. All minor winter ailments but as they have been collecting for the Ebola epidemic in the school and have heard it mentioned so many times the wee souls asked if they could be suffering from the terrible disease.

Thankfully for them an antibiotic from the doctor and all's well again.

My sister and brother-in-law were not so lucky with baby Charlotte last weekend. She caught a respiratory complaint and ended up in Yorkhill Children's Hospital for three days.

As I have mentioned before in this column it's not the first time we have experienced Yorkhill.

Like many parents in Glasgow a trip to this precious, exemplary hospital is never pleasant yet we are always full of praise and thankful for its existence.

Once the new super hospital at the Southern General is complete Yorkhill will close and be relocated there.

My sister says that sitting in the children's hospital, the immensity of such a monumental upheaval was so hard to imagine.

Criticism has been made of the move but we cannot deny that a brand new state of the art, high tech children's unit will hopefully be one of the best in Europe.

The standard of health care workers already employed in these hospitals are second to none so together we can be assured and consoled that we have the best on our doorstep should we need it. Thankfully the team at Yorkhill worked their usual magic and wee Charlotte is home now and full of beans.

Miracle

Surely miracle of the week is the finding of the wee new born baby down the drain in Australia the other day. Abandoned by the callous mother and discovered by two walkers, five days out the womb and stuck down a dirty auld drain in warm temperatures and yet the poor wee wean has survived and continues to improve. It makes you wonder how some wee babies can fight like lions to survive.

Black Friday

This Friday is dubbed Black Friday by High Street retailers. By discounting many goods they are expecting to bank £200 million and kick off the Christmas shopping frenzy with a bang. This idea has come from the American tradition of starting the sales after Thanksgiving in November and is now being adopted by many stores and online retailers here. Hurrah! Maybe that will phase out the annoying carry on of buying gifts before Christmas at ridiculous prices and finding them slashed by half on Boxing Day.

I know what I'll be adding to my Christmas list. A few new pairs of my trusted Marigolds. For it seems that the price of the trusted rubber glove is set to rise by 20%. The European Parliament is insisting that they be tested more rigorously to ensure they are safe enough to do the dishes in. They are to vote on extending the EU directive on protective clothing used at work to include household items. Now I am all in favour of health and safety at work but with the amount of rubber gloves I go through due to my cleaning fetish, I'll be well out of pocket!