i Editor's Letter: The wettest drought in years

How are you enjoying the wettest drought in years? Apparently, the rain, which we have endured daily since the start of the hosepipe ban, is not doing much to replenish any of the UK's drought-stricken reservoirs because the springtime ground is too hard to allow the water to permeate. I can just about get my befuddled head around that notion, but what I cannot understand for the life of me is why I am being so whacked by hay fever despite all the rain and the less than seasonable chilliness. And, I do mean really pole-axed — hence being even more befuddled than normal.

I am writing this with the next-to-no understanding of the condition that so blights my own and so many millions of other lives at this time of the year. Yes, OK, I get as far as plants produce various types of pollen, which my body fears will invade it, and thus produces histamine to protect itself. Histamine then expresses itself in the runny nose, itchy eyes and sneezing fellow sufferers will recognise.

So, we all take anti-histamines to counteract the effects, not of the invaders, but of our defences. And they all claim not to make you drowsy, but... For years, I've taken a pill that in the mysterious world of big-time drugs licences is available via prescription-only in the US, but over-the-counter here, and has been the only thing that has enabled me to function at this time of the year. Could it be that (as with so many and antibiotics) my body has become immune to this drug's benefits?

I did say that I was writing this in honest ignorance. I would like to hear from my fellow sufferers. How do you get through these weeks and months? "Go see your doctor," I hear you cry, but there is surely a better solution than being prescribed a * other drug?

And, why is it so awful right now, given all the rain? Any ideas? twitter.com/stefanohat

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